Resident Evil 4 The Novelization
by Tenial
Summary: This may not be suitable for children under 17, as the rating indicates. This is an original novelization of RE4, meaning there are things changed and perhaps added and subtracted. Beware, this is more than just horror in physical form.
1. Prologue

There was nothing better than a long drive down Mica Street in the middle of the night. Especially if no one else were to be around. The lights of the buildings flashed past Leon Kennedy as he sped down HWY 20 out of the Mund Hills and into Raccoon City. The city had been amazingly quite this night, and Leon hadn't a clue why. All he knew was that his captain superior Jacobs had given him a ring calling his attention to the station. Also that Leon had a nightmare and couldn't sleep; he thought a drive would do him good. Boy, had he no idea what was coming.

After an hour's worth of driving, he came off HWY 20 and onto Piedro St. After a minute or two he came to the stop light. Lightly on the break he pressed as soon as the light went yellow, and his car slowed down right before the white line. As soon as the car stopped, things seemed at peace. The engine still ran, hwoever, and it made the night seem even more peaceful to Leon. Strangely enough, his engine was the only one he heard.

He saw alleyways on both sides of him. Both had dark paths that had no end to the human eye into darkness. At least to Leon's eye. He concieved eyes out of those atoms cast in darkness glared at him through that darkness. It gave him a shiver or two.

He flicked on the radio. The town was suddenly giving him the creeps and he needed a bit of music. The radio man Joe Bob at CTOTA on 141.3 had a Southern accent that reminded Leon of Joe Bob from 'The Stand' by Stephen King on the television. Joe Bo started the sound with: _Hey gimme twenty bucks or none because I'll say today's gonna be a great day anyway! Hey, I've got a reckoning to say the new Dead movie's gonna suck major. Pardon my french, Cali boys and Cali girls, but Romero could have made mince outta the new Dead movie. I mean, mixing beer with voodoo ain't the ticket, man. But hey, who's giving a shift? The only dead thing you can expect to be great today is the collection of great songs. Starting with that Eagle's hit _Hotel California!

The light went green and he went on down the road with the song lingering on his stereo system.

**_On a dark desert highway_**

**_Cool wind in my hair._**

**_Warm smell of colitas_**

**_Rising up in the air._**

And by the time the song was getting underway intot his part of the song, he had already shifted down Muerto St. Just like the name said, the street always seemed dead to Leon. He hoped a lot of people noticed, because the mayor of Raccoon City really needed to look into this part of town. It was pretty poor, and most of the time there were a lot of sad looking people walking about. Tonight, the streets were empty.

**_Up ahead in the distance,_**

**_I saw a shimmering light._**

**_My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim;_**

**_I had to stop for the night._**

A kind of shadow passed over the street as he moved on through. It could have been that the absence of people was the shadow, but he was not so sure. The air was rank with a smell that almost choked him as he inhaled_. Damn peasants; they couldn't have moved somewhere else._

**_There she stood in the doorway_**

**_With the mission bell._**

**_And I was thinking to myself_**

**_This could be heaven or this could be hell._**

And he pulled a right onto Beaker St where he saw the same- nothing. There were clotheslines hanging from windows on both sides and above the street with rotten clothes that seemed to been worn by someone whose skin had melted away. Flies were buzzing around them.

**_Then she lit up a candle_**

**_And she showed me the way._**

**_There were voices down the corridor;_**

**_Thought I heard them say:_**

The smell was even worse on this street. It smelt like burnt rubber and shit with pepper and mustard roasting. It made him gasp for a bit of air that he pressed harder on the accelerator to get out of there quicker.

Then suddenly a form appeared right in front of his headlights.

_ SCREEEEECH!_

The car came to an immediate stop to where the form vanished from Leon's sight.

**_Welcome to the Hotel California._**

**_Such a lovely place, (such a lovely place) such a lovely face._**

**_There's plenty of room at the Hotel Californian._**

**_Any time of year, (any time of year) you can find it here._**

He had no idea if he had run over whatever was on the road or not. He couldn't see it over the dashboard and yonder between the lights and him.

_ Holy shit... did I just kill something?_

He pulled on the handle and the jeep-door opened. He moved around the front, and was shocked beyond his mind.

**_Her mind was Tiffany twisted,_**

**_She's got the Mercedes Benz, oh._**

**_She's got a lot of pretty, pretty boys_**

**_That she calls " friends."_**

The girl couldn't have been even eighteen years old. She lay motionless like a raggedy chinese doll with the long white dress that went down to her knees and the black hair strolling down her neck. She was lying on her chest with her face looking the other way. She looked pretty dead. But Leon had come across a body that appeared dead back in South Carolina when he was searching for a job as a county cop. Then he was dragged over to California because they the SC Police Department said his skills were needed with handling punks in the west. In SC, the body he came across was a teenaged idiot country boy who drank too much at a party and ended up left for dead by his 'friends' on the countryside. So Leon came and walked over to the body.

**_How they dance in the courtyard_**

**_Sweet summer sweat_**

**_Some dance to remember_**

**_Some dance to forget._**

His shoes clapped against the cement as though they were dancing shoes against a dance floor, and his S.T.A.R.S became shiny blue when he stepped in front of the headlights. Now Leon was a very handsome man of twenty-three, single, white, and a damn good officer in S.T.A.R.S. Most of the guys at the precinct called him 'Brack-Boy' because of his brown hair and gray eyes. They said 'heck you'd look like Senator McKarson if he became a cop' and often added 'but unlike that pretty boy, Ole Leon's got the moves to impress Jodie Foster.'

Leon stopped dead before the body. The sight of the girl gave him more shivers than a coctail did when the guys at S.T.A.R.S welcomed him to the precinct. He remembered the stripper the guys invited over got him nervous and cautious over those... but she was alive. This girl appeared more dead than Jane Fonda would be in a few years.

**_So I called up the captain:_**

**_'Please bring me my wine.'_**

**_He said, 'We haven't had that spirit here since_**

**_1969'_**

He bent over and nudged the girl on the shoulder. Cold as ice, but then he felt movement.

"Heya, you awake, girl?" he said

She gave out two moans as though awaking from a hundred year sleep. She started to sit up a bit. She still kept her face away from him.

She kept moaning.

"Hey, you should get home little girl," he said taking her by the arm. But when he pulled her, he couldn't. It felt like trying to pull rock out of a mountain side on a very cold day. She didn't even budge.

And then she looked around at last. But Leon wanted to look away as she turned to look at him. But he made himself look back, and the results of his bravery were disturbing. Her eyes were crystal clear with circles of black around them with a flame that made Leon want to jump back. She held him in her gaze for what seemed like forever, and soon Leon relized it was not love at first sight.

All over her forehead her own blood crawled down to drip down her chin and clot her white dress. At last Leon let go and moved back from her, but he was still locked by her. She finally began to stand, and the blood started coming down faster down her face, and soon her teeth were rank with blood. The only color on her face was her eyes and her bloodied lips. She looked like a corpse that had a blood pack dropped on her head. She made a bloody smile, and made a step towards him. She gave a slight moan as she walked towards him.

**_And still those voices are calling from far away._**

**_Wake you up in the middle of the night_**

**_Just to hear them say:_**

"Girl, are you alright!" Leon gasped. She said nothing, but kept that bloody smile and that stalking walk. Soon she raised an arm and held it up in such a way that Leon took as an invitation to be embraced. But those lips were unsavory for kissing, Leon was afraid to say. She looked like she could have been pretty.

She moaned again, coming closer. He kept backing away from her until his thighs hit the bumper of his jeep. The girl seemed to have made her walking pace faster.

**_Welcome to the Hotel California._**

"Now that's as far as you're getting, young lady," he threatened. She didn't heed him. Her head cocked to the side, her eyes widened, and she let her jaw drop. Threads of blood stuck to her teeth and hang off of the roof of her mouth. She raised the other hand, reaching for him.

**_Such a lovely place, (such a lovely place)!_**

**_Such a lovely face._**

Leon finally found the courage to reach for his Colt .45 strapped at his side with such speed that the gun was already cocked by the time it was pointed at the girl. She paid no heed at all.

"Halt in the name of the law!" he shouted. His breath was raspy from the smell that now came from the girl. She smelt so rotten that he couldn't find a word to describe how dead she smelt. She was a foot away from touching the gun with her fingertips.

But he couldn't shoot her. So he actually jumped on top of the front and stood high above the girl, standing menacing from above. The girl halted, and looked up with the same look. She wanted him badly for some reason that he did not know. But then her tongue hung out, and that gave Leon's heart a reason to start beating like no tomorrow.

"I swear if you touch me girl, I'll have to take action," he said. But even he knew that wouldn't thwart an L.A. punk much less a crazed girl like this one. And as he suspected, she paid no heed. But to his surprise, she looked down. He lowered his gun a bit in inquiry.

And then amazing speed she grabbed at his foot.

**_There's many a room at the Hotel California._**

**_What a nice surprise (what a nice surprise)_**

**_Bring you alibis_**

He tried tugging his foot away from the grasp, but it was so strong that he feared if he tried harder he would rip his leg off.

And worse, she bent forward, cocked her head to the side and reached out with her neck with her teeth bared.

He feared the worst for what they were for that he immediately pulled the trigger. The sound of the gunshot was heard down the street and perhaps a few blocks down.

The grip on his leg was released upon impact of the bullet and the girl fell back and on her back. Leon grabbed at his foot to see if he was alright, and was relieved to see he wasn't bitten. He raised his gun again, and jumped down onto the pavement. He limped on the leg that was grabbed upon impact, and he grunted. That grip was horrifyingly strong. And then the worst happened.

_**Mirrors on the ceiling**_

_**Pink champagne on ice**_

_**And she said 'We are all just prisoners here**_

_**Of our own device.'**_

The girl rose again, with the same look on her fact. The bullet hit her square on the shoulder, and now the left side of her dress was covered in blood. It made her scarier than before, and she walked towards him again.

He was not going to risk anymore lost moments. He fired twice at her again, in the chest, but the shots only seemed like pushes that pushed her two feet backwards on her feet. She continued to stand, and the sight of her haunted Leon's mind. She continued to reach for Leon.

**_And in the master's chambers_**

**_They gather for the feast._**

**_They stab it with their steely knives_**

**_But they can just kill the beast._**

****

_ To hell with this!_

He shot her twice in the head. The girl's head jerked back twice, and by the second time he heard her neck crack and she was thrown farther back than before. And then it was all silent.

He didn't care anymore if the girl was alive. He didn't even believe she was. he ran to the side of the car and opened the car door, and then halted. Standing behind the jeep were two men covered in blood staring at him. They had the same look the girl had. No smiles, but bearded open mouthed stares.

He opened the car door before seeing two more bloody figures standing in front of his car. Both were teenagers of different sex. The girl had blood in her hair and half her neck missing, while the boy had his ribs exposed. The smell grew worse, and it made Leon want to puke.

Soon the figures began to moan in want. And their mouths were bloody.

Then he saw a few more join those behind his jeep, and another join in front of his car. They were starting to surround him. And they didn't want his gun or his money.

He looked on the west side of the street and saw an alleyway. He did not want to risk being with these creatures, but he also didn't want to go down there. He had no choice, and he broke into a run, shooting two at the ones behind his jeep and then running into the darkness.

Leon ran for a long while, and then suddenly found himself in an office at the precinct. Once the desk in front of the window was nice and pristine, the lockers were not covered in graffiti like the blood now did, and the floors did not have dead and half-devoured officers lying there. But now Leon saw familiar faces lying pale and bloodied on the floor. Most of them had half of their bodies devoured, and even a body in the corner had bones exposed through the eaten skin.

He saw a familiar friend lying dead against the lockers in the corner. He was a black man he had been friends with since he moved to California. Now for some reason he had forgotten his name that only his completely blood-covered face was all he could place. Why couldn't he remember his name?

But all that went out the window. The eyes of the body flashed open and found Leon. The body pushed against the locker and rose up. Then he started walking to Leon, with the same look the girl gave him. And Leon froze as he aimed to fire. He couldn't pull the trigger and react so lightly. This was his friend. Or at least appeared to be his friend... no, it wasn't his friend.

And as the corpse came around to grab at him, Leon said a last goodbye and pulled the trigger five times. Thrice in the chest, and twice in the head. The man was killed. Again.

As the body fell down, Leon began moving backwards into the dark. And at that same time he felt hands grab him by the shoulder. He was spun around to face the dark, and he fire a shot in the dark. The figure that grabbed him, a huge and strange man in the dark, received the shot but did not react too much.

Leon pressed the trigger again, but there were no more bullets. He looked helplessly at the gun before looking up into the eyes of the man. One eye was as plain as any other with a fiery flame, and the other was deformed and horrible.

"Caught you, mouse," the big man said, and then letting go of a shoulder the big man reached for his neck.

And then darkness invaded his vision.

Leon sat straight up with his own hand to his neck, panting quickly and with a steady pulse. He saw no more of those eyes, and there was no big man in front of him again. He was wide awake now.

Leon found himself sitting upright in his own bed. It was night, so no sun. And it was raining, so things were getting washed away. Outside his closed window a tree branch rattled against the pained glass due to the winds passing through the forest in North Carolina. His house was set in a forest that the Carolinians called Carolina Trace. It was a beauty of a place with tall green trees surrounding him from all sides, unlike the desert-like places of California... California, that was a Hellmouth of a state. If Leon had the time and money, he would send a check to Joss Wheadon.

He wished he would never have to return to there.

And then it all came back to him like a hot kiss at the end of a wet fist in the dark. He saw the dead with his mind's eye. He could never forget the night of the living dead, movie and reality. The curse of the T-virus was so terrible it infected almost everyone in Raccoon City- more than once. He was just relieved God was on Man's side to live on.

But the wounds he got were not mortal. They were wounds of the mind that he could not heal. He could not get those faces out of his mind. Every night before he slept he cleaned his gun, loaded it, and kept it ready under his pillow. And every night he kept staring into the ceiling with the light on before his eyes closed and turned off the light. But even in the dark he would open his eyes and sleep with them awake. Sometimes he even saw the dead standing around his bed, hungrily staring at him. Sometimes they weren't bloody; sometimes they were without arms and legs. Sometimes he saw more than the dead. Sometimes he saw actual people staring at him. And one time he saw a single person standing at the end of his bed. A tall man without no hair and a long cloak. Leon could see him now... standing and staring at him at the end of his bed...

_ BILLLILILING! BILLLILILING_ !

The phone rang, and it made Leon jump. He grabbed the receiver quicker than a jackrabbit running from a wolf, and then slowly raised it to his ear. "Who is this?"

"Leon?" inquired the voice of his superior, Jacob Bridges. "You awake?"

"Do I sound it?"

"No."

"Well, shoot, General; what's up?"

"I just got a call from the White House asking me to do a favor. I thought I'd give you a ringer."

Leon's ears pricked. "White House? Why, what for?"

"Just come on over to Fort Bragg, my man. You'll learn in time. And please shut that damn music. Raccoon City has made the song sound like a reality." and then the phone went dead.

Leon hung up the phone. Almost without hesitation he turned on his lights and got into his S.T.A.R.S uniform. After Raccoon City, the force mover on over to the east with Leon following way behind. And then Leon got his .45 and holstered it to the side. He then got his keys and headed for the door. Before he unlocked it and opened it, he remembered Bridge's last request. The radio was still playing _Hotel California _on the radio and he reached to turn it off. But the last few lines he listened to before leaving his apartment and left the trace to Fort Bragg.

**_Last thing I remember,_**

_**I was running for the door.**_

_**I had to find the passage back**_

_**To the place I was before.**_

_**'Relax,' said the night man. 'We are programmed to receive.**_

_**You can check out anytime you like**_

_**But you can never leave.'**_


	2. European Shadow

Three days after he had that dream, Leon found himself driving down to the Raleigh Airport in his Sudan for a top mission. But for the love of God, could he still figure out why _he _was chosen for this job? No, he was more focused on getting to the plane and then flying to his destination, a place he'd never thought he would find himself in.

Europe. Who would have thunk it?

Pulling a right from the street he was on, he discovered a huge vista before him on all sides now; big enough to have an airplane stationed nearby. In fact he looked to the sky as far as the roof of his car let him and discovered a plane flying over him. Was he chasing the reason he was going to Europe or something in the way?

But Leon didn't think about it too much. He wasn't feeling good that day; mostly because a drama sat between him and his ex-girlfriend Christine; a very beautiful twenty-something year old Asian artist he had met somewhat a year ago. When they met, he swore it was love at first sight. A year later, they began to have a falling out. And at last, today was the day they finally began to break up. She wore a miniskirt reaching up to her upper thighs; usually something Leon reckoned that only 'sexy female lawyers' wore, with her ivory hair bearing red strands looping down to her shoulders. Although her make-up kept her beautiful, it couldn't cover the mood she was in. She was very depressed.

Leon kept it cool, because he'd seen so many terrible things that he couldn't let anything else get to him. But dealing with actual humans was tougher than handling the undead like he did in Raccoon City. So in return, Leon was upset.

A car sped past him and he had the undeniable urge to ram him. But fearing to piss off more people than Christine (and also that he had to get to his destination), he did not do it. He looked away as soon as the car sped past him, for Christine looked at him at that moment. With his eyes averted, he could still know what she was doing. He imagined that she rolled her eyes and then looked down at her lap.

One hand on the wheel and the other with its elbow leaned against the open window car door against the side of his head, he looked at Christine. He frowned.

"Christine, are you sure you want to do this?" he asked, almost desperately.

Christine looked at him.

"What makes you think I'm not sure?" she said, her voice was cold.

Leon shook his head. "Fine. Whatever."

"Yes, whatever." Christine said as she looked out the other window.

"It's just that..." Leon started again, his eyes towards the road. He could tell that made Christine close her eyes shut in irritancy. "I know I haven't been close to you; and I know you demand much for a relationship. But... I just can't."

"Leon, you've been like that for the past five years," Christine said as she kept looking out her window. "You've never changed."

Leon shot a glance at her. "So you mean this whole relationship's my entire fault?"

"Yes!" Christine shot at Leon, her face to his. "NO! I mean..."

Leon was now angry. He looked to the road with a shake of emotions. "That's just great. Now I know why people don't like me so much. I'm too dead to be alive for that case."

Christine was now getting even more irritated. "You see? Now I can't have a conversation with you without you getting angry!"

"I know!" shouted Leon; "I'm sorry I can't meet your expectations, but I've been changed. Yes, I admit, I've never changed since Raccoon City. But have you any idea?"

"After hearing you talk most of the time, yes!" said Christine. "No offense, but you're plagued and I can't stand in your way! You're like a boulder of mysterious emotions I can't contend with. Of course I don't know what it's like to battle zombies or creatures that defy God's creations, but... I'm human. I'm more human than those zombies are."

Leon was quiet. He felt a bit more ashamed.

"I mean, yes I have flaws, but I at least live with them," said Christine; "you still act as though you've died with yours. Until you can rise from the dead, I can't come back to you."

Leon looked at Christine at the corner of his eye. What she said touched something in his mind, and it made him realized a few things a bit more. But he did not want to talk to her about it anymore. He felt mad and sad, and he didn't want to intensify things.

After twenty more minutes, he pulled into the Raleigh Airport. He gave Christine the keys without saying a word, took his bag and then walked out of her life, which used to be a part of his life. He didn't look back at Christine until he came to the front sliding doors, and then he looked back and she was still looking at him. He lightly waved to her, and she lightly waved back, and then he turned away and towards Europe.

Waiting as he wanted in the lobby was his good friend Daniel Betts. A strong-built black man in a black leather coat and a cool hair cut, which altogether printed a good friend in Leon's mind. As soon as he saw him, the ex-S.T.A.R.S cop dropped his luggage, put on a warm smile, and embraced his good friend.

"It's mighty damn good to be seeing ya again, Kennedy," Dan said as he set his hands upon his bud's arms. "Looks like you're traveling light for the occasion."

"Should it surprise you?" Leon asked as he picked his luggage. "What about yours?"

Dan held his shoulder up to show that hanging off of it was his very own bag of luggage. "Looks like we're twins."

"Oh momma, slap us and make us different," Leon said.

The two laughed and clapped each others hands, and then they walked on down the crowded halls of the airport.

"How's your family doing, Dan?" asked Leon.

"Oh, usual. In great shape and awaiting my grandchild."

"How's Tekosha doing?"

"Getting through. You'll learn the agonies of guiding your eldest daughter, mother-to-be, that is."

"I don't know about that," Leon was drastic. "Christine and I have broken up."

"Not again! I thought you two had something going on there."

"I thought so too. Then I found out there was still something dead going on between us."

"Really, you can't let a bad night in bed get your hopes down. Me and Jo had problems the first three times, but once we discovered all was love in heartfelt intimacy that was when the floors began creaking harder."

Leon laughed. "No, it had nothing to do with the sex. Besides, that's my own personal life. _You _should be ashamed about yourself, telling me your sex secrets."

Dan slapped the side of his head. "Yeah, I know. But unlike my brother, I know you won't publicly repeat it."

"How's he doing?"

"Still serving."

"Kinda makes you wish you had a better brother, no?"

"I still do. But I haven't heard a peep out of him since he went to New York. I just hope he wasn't involved with the World Trade Center."

Leon sighed. "Yes, that was a monstrous attack."

Dan looked at Leon as they halted at the beginning of the long line at the metal detectors. The people were being **slowwww **today. And Dan said, "Ever wondered if there are differences between Saddam and those monsters you faced in Raccoon City?"

Leon nodded at Dan. "Yeah. The results showed equal signs."

"Then you should know that we did fine, correct?"

"Yeah. I just hope what _I _do next is fine."

"Don't worry, Leon. You're the top man of the agency, and you fought well at the incident in Raccoon City. I don't think you'll screw up this time."

Leon was rather resilient to that answer, dreading what was to come.

"Well, as long as I got you. Thank God the agency sent you along to cover me!"

"Yeah, I know. But I doubt anything could stop the Great Leon Kennedy. Cheer up! I bet we'll have a grand ole time."

At about 12:30 AM they got onto the plane. They both fell asleep a few times and then woke back up to watch a movie. Leon's least favorite movie was the "Dawn of the Dead" remake. He put on some headphones and listened to rock n' roll music to distract him. Dan worriedly looked at him and then pulled out his copy of _The Stand _by Stephen King and let the hours fly by. But at one point during the flight, when everyone was quiet and doing their own thing, Leon studied each and every passenger carefully, as though trying to decipher some detail he had missed when looking at other humans. He sought to find every pore, every wrinkle seeable on a person. Every bit of hair follicle, and every color of eye. Every slight movement, and every moment of speech. And Leon wondered, 'Could they be really human? Or is there really a demon within all of us. Or am I really becoming crazy?'

Four hours later, the plane landed and both men stepped out of Airegrande Airport in Valencia, Southeast Spain. They were greeted by a young lad by the name of Michaelis, a Greek fellow moved in from America who wanted to know how life was in Europe. By what he talked about and how he did so as he drove them down the streets of Valencia told both men he wasn't happy about it. Ten minutes later they pulled up to the front of the Hotel Vaia con Dios. They checked in and found their operative, Fuerto Torochico, waiting for them. Fuerto was a tall, lean Spanish man in a black suite with shades. He was with the agency Leon worked for, though from Spain. He led them to their room, and immediately everyone got set up. They had their radios set up, and then Fuerto showed Leon his personal equipment; a Colt .45 as beautiful as all guns to Leon, a CNOC Bowie Knife long enough to cut a wrist in half, a walkie-talkie for long-distance, a cell phone with camera, and a pair of electro binoculars. Leon tested it by looking out the window and caught a woman in her apartment undressing. He grinned, but then he looked away to show the humanity in his soul.

That night, they slept. Leon had the most troubled of all that he woke suddenly in the middle of the night. He spent the rest of that night pouring over his journals, reading the memoirs he wrote after the incident at Raccoon City six years ago. He could still hear that song in his mind, that Hotel California song drifting hauntingly like a plague. He hummed it to himself as he took apart his Colt .45 and reconstructed it, cleaning it and re-cleaning it. He pointed it at the mirror against the wall, pretending to pull the trigger and pop a bullet into his mirror-self. Something about him still made him wish he wasn't living; that feeling of seeing your own ugly self, seeing more things than other people can, in the mirror and even in your mind. It could make you grow mad just to think about it, and it certainly made Leon wish mirrors didn't exist. But then again, without it, how could he help himself?

After a while, Leon went back to sleep. But then he was awoken again by Fuerto, telling him that he had two hours before his flight to Mallorca in the Balearic Islands. Leon lazily got up, but he did his usual work outs and then took a shower and then threw on his clothes, long black move-able pants and a black t-shirt, covered by straps which would contain extra ammunition and a holster to hold his gun. Of course, he would have to have someone to clarify that he is legally the bearer of his weapon, so the agency called in someone to do that; a certain Voz Publico. Leon met him at the Airegrande Airport and then flew over to Mallorca. While he flew over, he got to learn a great deal about Voz. He was a pleasant man who spoke a lot about politics and how 'those fools in Libya act like childish toys for the service of Africa' and other nonsense. Leon soon found out from Voz that he liked to speak stuff like that so he could start debates and learn more truths about what nonsense he was talking about. Leon corrected him about Libya, and Voz nodded and whispered to himself in Romanian.

After they had gotten to Mallorca, they had to wait two hours for their flight to Menorca. While they waited, they kept talking to each other about politics and then began talking about women. Voz, apparently, was a lover of women of all kinds. He had met and bedded with them all, so he said. While he went on to talking about the ways to woo the sexiest woman, Leon took a glance at the people around him. They were very pale and mostly quiet. At times they looked back at him with a disturbing glance. Leon couldn't understand it, and so he let his attention rest with Voz to understand how to bed with a woman.

Two hours had passed and they flew to Menorca. When they got there, they met Leon's driver duo Arcano and Guntar, two strange men who gave Leon the shivers. They wore blue uniforms taxi-men wore, as well as blue caps. But something about them kept disturbing him, for they continuously asked him questions and told him strange stories. After they were introduced, Voz said farewell and flew back to Valencia. Leon, meanwhile, was stuck with the two men.

"So, _domn,_" said Guntar as he and Arcano led Leon to the car outside; "you here for _vacanţă, _vacation?"

"You could say that," said Leon.

"I heard otherwise, though," said Arcano as he opened the door out of the small airport in the small country.

Leon eyed Arcano. "From who?"

"A little _tip ciudat_ told me."

Then Leon found out what was strange about the two.

"Are you both Spanish born?"

"_Si, domn_," Guntar said. "Why, we don't sound it?"

"Actually, you sound Romanian."

"Ahh! Si, we do. But it's something we like to speak out here, no Arcano?"

"Si we do."

Leon shook his head as he walked out of the airport.

The car was a ragged somewhat '87 blue car, small yet big enough for the three of them to fit. It sat at the bottom of a stone staircase in a weather-beaten town in Clutadella. Leon didn't see any people walking outside, save for the two drivers and him. It was completely dead. And Leon didn't have much of an attraction to check everything out, and he actually forgot what it looked like as the two drivers drove him out of Clutadella. He partially fell asleep on the drive, and in his mind too many images of the past plagued his mind. He could see himself walking down a hallway with a dead, headless body lying in the middle of the floor. And just in time, Leon looked up and jumped away as a hideous creature jumped down to the floor. It was the most monstrous thing he had seen at that point in time, a creature without eyes and nose and humanity, a tongue so hideous that could trip the head off of a person. Leon could see its sharp teeth glinting with blood, and its incredible muscles that had no layer of skin above it. And just as it was ready to pounce on Leon, he suddenly woke up as the car bumped.

The two drivers made two wild 'wows!' and then were quite calm. Leon wanted to know what was that all about, and he looked out his window. All around him he was surrounded by trees. But these were not the pleasant kind of trees you would see usually. With the pale clouds looming over the entire area and the chilly winds that blew through these trees, every branch was nearly leafless and brown as well as its trunk. Everything was in hues of dull gold and yellow and brown, giving off an un-tasteful sight and memory imprinted in Leon's subconscious.

"Startled you, _ei domn_?" said Arcano with a chuckle; "we're crossing into very dirty territory, uncharted and very bumpy."

"This is where you ordered me to go?" asked Leon in surprise.

"Si, from the President your boss himself," said Guntar. "Dun worry, _señor_, we made the coast very clear back at the airport. We know what you were sent here for."

"Then why don't you tell me."

The two chuckled.

"You are actually pretty smart, _señor_; that's pretty good," said Arcano. "We know that you've been sent by the U.S. President himself to look after his family. A family so dear and important because they are the offspring of the most important man in America. I heard the wife died of a sickness, so sad yes. And the only family the president had left was his three children; an elder son, a middle daughter and the baby daughter. I hear the oldest son, Jonathon, is twenty-six. The middle daughter, Merry, twenty-one; and the baby daughter, Ashley, is sixteen. Now, many kidnappings have occurred around America and Europe lately. Though most of them have been solved, one of them has yet to be solved; the kidnapping of the President's daughter Ashley. Want to continue, Guntar?"

"Si, I do!" said Guntar quite energetically; "And according to spy satellite and indications of Ashley's whereabouts, it has been indicated that she might have been taken to these areas. The reason? The kidnapper has not been recognized, nor has anything been said on Ashley's behalf. So in order to find out, the President has sent you, Leon Kennedy, to find out."

"You two know a lot for drivers," said Leon; "were you two called to attention by the President's call?"

"Si, you are correct," said Arcano. "As much as you were, only we don't do the action. We're only the spectators to enjoy the ride."

After a while they came to a small wooden bridge over a large gorge. Arcano at the wheel took it slowly even though the bridge was solidly still, and Leon couldn't blame him; he feared it would start being rickety and then they'd fall into the gorge. But they went to the other side safely, and then they pulled in and stopped.

"Here's as far as we go, now," said Arcano. "You have to go the rest of the way."

Leon looked out his window and didn't like what Arcano said. From then on was a gloomy path filled with weeds, black trees and narrow corners. It was clouded by darkness, a dread that almost had Leon want to back away from the whole ordeal.

Leon hesitated. "This is it?"

"Si, sir," said Arcano; "why, afraid?"

Leon scoffed. "I'd hardly call it that."

"Then what is it?"

Leon stared at the dark path before him; he didn't trust it. Too many familiar feelings were growing up in him again like crazy, his dreams coming back to him and haunting him at that moment. Could it be that he was going into another Umbrella Corporation plot? Or was it something else?

He had to find out.

"Good luck, señor," said Guntar. "Don't get lost, now."

Leon shook his head, and he opened the car door and stepped into the cold air of Menorca country. It made him shiver terribly, and a growing fear was swelling up inside of him.

"You'll still be here when I come back?" asked Leon.

"Si, just don't take so long."

"I'll only be asking around, if there _are _any people."

To his surprise, he thought he could distinctly hear a voice up ahead.

"Then we'll wait for you," said Arcano.


	3. Cogero él!

The first steps onto that path were chilly and cold, almost freezing him even with that warm coat over his shoulders. The trees were black and bare, creepy and disfigured like old men bending over the path. But from the looks of it, this path had been made for visitors to walk through. Yet Leon couldn't help but wish someone could have gotten rid of these trees or at least moved them. He didn't like how they looked. He felt like he was trespassing instead of visiting, and he couldn't help but feel watched. Yet on he walked, the car soon far behind him.

At that moment, several crows jumped from their branches and flew up into the sky, crowing as they flew away. It made Leon jump for a second, and then he set a hand to his chest to try and settle the nervousness in his heart. Then he realized, 'How can I be scared? I survived Raccoon City! This should be mere child's play in comparison to what _I _went through!'

Then he halted in his footsteps.Throughthe tall weeds and plants and trees, he could see something behind them all. A faint light crackling in the distance that served like a beacon to travelers, especially in Leon's case. Slowly he walked on to clear away the trees and weeds to see what the light was, and then it vanished without a trace. 'What was it?' he wondered, and then all thought of the flame was obscured by the sight of a small two story wooden hut up ahead. There was no light that Leon could see, but he was relieved to see that someone lived in this God-forsaken place. Yet the hut itself was displeasing as much as the environment was, for some reason…

As Leon walked up to the front gate of the hut's small fence, he looked towards the hut's window, blocked up by wooden bars, leaving only a small crevice in the middle. As he looked at it, he thought he could see a shadow from within moving away from the window, slowly and then vanishing. _Great!_ Leon thought. _Someone lives in that house._

He walked onto its front porch, and in return a small excess of creaks came from the wooden planks; softly yet disturbingly. The front door was pretty old and was in need of repair. He reached out with one hand to knock on it, yet with one soft touch of his hand the door slid open, letting out a hiss-like creak. Hey, he knocked, so he slowly allowed himself in. On the wall in front of him was a decoration of small pictures, showing a small family showing neither smile nor happiness. They all had looks that bore into Leon's mind, reminding him of sadness in the past.

To his left the corridor led into another room towards the right. As he entered it, he looked round to see a single man in beat up countryside clothes fixing his roaring fire. From the corridor entrance and straight on to another room was a staircase going up. In this 'living room', a single table and chair sat in the center above a ragged carpet behind the old man fixing his fire. Leon was relieved to see another human being in this place.

"Excuse me, sir?" Leon said politely, walking around the table to greet the old man, who hadn't turned his face to him at all or even acknowledged him.

Leon reached into his pockets to unfold a picture of a very pretty teenaged blonde girl with a sweatshirt. He held it for the old man to see, yet the old man still did not turn his face to Leon.

"Have you seen this girl?" he inquired.

Then the old man turned the other way to stretch his back - uttering a few words in Spanish to himself - and then he turned to Leon and immediately halted. At first gaze, Leon wouldn't want to look at the man a second time. His face looked like the side of a gnarled tree with hair on its chin, with eyes as yellow as they could come. It gave Leon the creeps, truthfully. And the old man stared athim like he had never seen another human before, or that he rexognized him; and did not like him at all.

"My name's Leon Kennedy and I'm under orders to find this girl. She's been reported seen around these parts. Have you seen her?"

Leon asked as politely as he could, yet something made the old man angry. For in response, the old man started cursing and growling at Leon in Spanish, turning away in anger.

Leon was insulted, so he backed off with a 'Sor_ry_ to _disturb_ you, sir' and he looked down to his pocket and pushed the picture in. Then he was turning away, yet the old man began to move in such a way that made Leon suspicious, and before he knew it, the old men reached for the axe resting beside the fire and then violently turned around and attacked Leon with an animal-like growl.

He had just a bare moment to react, but he dodged it just in time and immediately had his Colt .45 wielded and armed, and pointed at the axe wielding man.

"Freeze!" ordered Leon. The old man's head slowly turned to him, and slowly he stalked towards the agent with his axe raised, letting out a silent yet disturbing growl... like that of a zombie.

"I said freeze!" Leon ordered again, but it could stop the old man. All of Leon's dreams suddenly came flushing back to him, and haunted memories attacked at his heart. The girl he nearly ran over who turned out to be a zombie, his friend who became a zombie, and now, this old man attacking Leon.

"You move any closer—" Leon was about to say, but the old man was already rearing back his axe to attack. At that moment, Leon pulled the trigger. The bullet came into the old man's wrist; blood suddenly escaped and covered the walls. The axe, however, did not fall out of the old man's hand. He did not even look pained. He only reared it back again and readied to attack. Leon shot him in the shoulder, and the old man stepped back a few times in response. But he still stalked towards Leon with the raised axe. Finally, enough was enough, and with fear welling in Leon's heart he pulled the trigger again with the nozzle pointed at the old man's head.

The old man's head was reared back for a few seconds, and then his body followed and he fell to the ground with a crash. Blood eked out of every hole made on his body, and then all was silent for that time.

With his gun still pointed, Leon cautiously walked over to the dead body to inspect it. He feared the worst; 'Was it a zombie?' 'Was it a form of a zombie?' yet as he stood over it and examined the body, nothing about the old man resembled a zombie at all. He looked just like a human being, except for those yellow eyes.

_He's not a zombie,_ though Leon. _But what **is** he?_

At that exact moment, an engine outside suddenly roared on and voices began shouting in Spanish. Leon rushed to the window with the wooden bars over it; an old truck sped down the path he just walked on, driving at such a speed that could kill anyone at all costs. And sure enough, Leon heard cries and shouts from down the path, and then –**CRAAAAASH – **the truck plummeted into the blue car far beyond Leon's sight.

"Dammit!" Leon cursed. He stomped his foot and looked out the window once again to see two men walking in front of the house and speaking to each other in Spanish Leon actually could translate.

"Where's Trigo at this hour?" asked one of them, bearing a sickle.

"I don't know, but I hear new visitor is in the Village," said the other, wielding a pitchfork.

"His door is open; should we see?"

At that moment, Leon walked towards the door and gazed outside. At first the two men seemed like normal humans, yet when their eyes suddenly saw him they halted, and their forms took a different kind of shape in Leon's mind. They too bore yellow eyes, and their skins were deathly pale and wrinkled. Their teeth were rotten and yellow, and their clothes were ragged and old.

"_Hola, señores_," he said in Spanish.

They stared at him, holding the same faces the old man gave to Leon. Suddenly, Leon had the urge to slam the door on them, for he noticed the grip on their farming tools intensified, and their knuckles became bare white as though they hated Leon— and wanted to kill him.

"Having a good day?" Leon asked nervously, his hand reaching for the door.

"_Cogero él!_" the pitchfork man suddenly shouted, and the two of them sped to the door with intensive speed; their weapons were raised with intent of violence, shouting in Spanish and growling like angry dogs.

Leon slammed the door in their faces and pushed his body against it. The door was shaken terribly, almost being thrust open by the sheer weight of the two crazed men. And then through the door the tongue of a pitchfork shot into a few inches away from Leon's face. It was then that he rushed to the end of the corridor with his gun pointed, letting the door crash open and the two men crashing in with it. But Leon was surprised, and he trusted his instincts rather than his bravery; he ran into the living room as soon as they got onto their feet, and then he rushed up the staircase only to find a small corridor with a single window and a door into another room. The two men were cursing in Spanish and their footsteps were thumping hard against the wooden floor, and even up the staircase.

Leon looked out the window, seeing clearly that if he jumped out he would land safely. He had no more second thoughts, and he ran up the stairs towards the window, in time to dodge a scythe from digging into his shoulder, and then he jumped through the window.

He landed very roughly, but he was at least out of the house. His landing spot was nearby an old tree, and it become significant to him in the end; for as he was rising up, something slammed into the tree with a clang— a scythe. Leon looked up to the window he jumped out of to see the two men growling in Spanish and cursing at him from the window. He raised his gun and shot a round, catching one of them in the shoulder. The pitchfork wielding man had his pitchfork raised, and with an – umph – the pitchfork sailed from his hands and towards Leon. He dodged it just in time and let it sail past him. Then as he turned around, something hulking came towards him with both hands raised to grab him by the neck with an inhuman moan.

_A zombie!_ Leon thought, for it had the deadest and greyest skin imaginable on anything that moved, yet when it grabbed him by the neck it didn't seek to bite him. Instead, the grip tightened around his neck and with sheer force Leon was being thrown about like a ragged doll. Leon, however, was fast in reflexes and with a twirk of his hips he let loose a powerful kick and knocked the man back, the grip now off of his neck. The dead man was thrown back a few steps, but then he was hulking towards Leon again with both hands raised for his neck. The agent popped a round with the nozzle aimed to the head, and the dead man was dead— again.

"Who are these people!" Leon gasped. And just in time he looked to the house, and he saw that the two men were already outside and stalking towards him. He didn't want to waste chances, and soon memories of taking out zombies without resorting to gunpower (since he often saved it), and as soon as those people were heading to him, he holstered his weapon andallowed them come at him.

The first one came at him with his sickle, but Leon was a swift fighter (taught via the government's special agencies) and as soon as it came to decapitate him, he ducked it and stepped inward, with his knife drawn, and sliced at the man's thigh. As soon as Leon was ready for the next villager, the previous one had falling to his knees growling and cursing. The next villager was somewhat different; he had no weapon, and instead came at Leon full on with his hands reaching out to him. Swiftly and with a rush Leon charged the villager with a running side kick, which sent the villager crashing to the side of the house and making a hole within.

He turned back to the other villager, and just before he could get to his feet, Leon came from behind and did a spinning Muay Thai roundhouse kick, and it sent the villager's head to cracking at the side.

Leon looked behind him, and saw the other villager jumping out of the hole with an axe in his hands. He charged with a growl, and vertically his attack came to dig into the ex-cop's head. But as soon as the axe had come downwards, Leon had already dodged to the villager's side and dug the knife into the villager's throat. The villager fell to the ground without another sound, save a few gurgles and then nothing. Then there was silence.

Leon stood almost quivering on his feet. _Who were these people? _

Then something caught his ears far up on the road. It was the sound of whimpering.

Leon paid no mind to the dead villagers at that time, and holstering his knife and pulling out his handgun he carefully walked down the dark path. The trees glared at him from above him, as though casting accusation upon him for killing. Or worse, as though the crows upon their branches were spying on Leon.

He chose to ignore them for the time being as the whimpering became louder as he walked closer to the source. Soon he came upon a thicket of bushes underneath a black almost obelisk tree, and pushing the thicket aside the whimpering was directed to Leon. Sure enough, caught in a bear trap hidden underneath the dead leaves and grasses was a white dog with its leg stuck between the trap's teeth. The dog cried and whimpered, and looks at Leon for help.

He couldn't pass the chance. He was never one to protect animals from _everything_, but if they needed him, he would help. So he holstered his weapon, and he bent down and reached for the trap's teeth. As he pulled, he had to use a lot of his strength. The teeth were clenched tight like the hardest springs caught in a bed. But Leon managed to pull them slightly apart, at least enough for the dog to pull its leg free. Happily and with joy the dog jumped away from the trap, limping and whimpering yet with joy, and then barked at Leon as thanks and then ran away behind the bushes and trees.

That actually filled Leon with joy himself. Seeing that dog happy seemed to make things seem a bit better. Then looking behind him and remembering those villagers, he got back to the point of things. Whatever kidnapped the President's daughter was probably a terrorist leader. Those villagers… they had to have been his followers. But why would they attack Leon? Could it have been that they were spontaneous to strangers, or was it they mistook him for something else?

_Tax employer _Leon thought, and he chuckled to himself.

Then he heard something else up ahead. Pulling his handgun up, he walked on over down that dark path again, pushing aside branches of trees hanging down to blind him from seeing ahead. As he pushed them aside, he came across another bush or thicket on the path. The sound of voices became distinct and loud up ahead, and they spoke Spanish.

"What was that noise up ahead?" one of them spoke.

"Sounded like popping sounds. Should we check?" said another.

Then Leon could see them through the thickets and branches; three villagers with clubs in their hands heading his direction. They looked menacing and dangerous, and all had the same eyes like the other villagers.

Leon did not want to be discovered at all! He immediately found cover behind a tree without making a sound, and peeking around the tree trunk he saw them walking past without having heard or seen anything. Thank goodness they moved on. But Leon had to move fast; if they found the bodies, they would sound the alarm. He had to get rid of them.

Leon moved away from the trunk, slowly creeping after them like a silent snake. Silently he followed them as best as he could, yet he did not notice the bear trap lying hidden under the leaves, waiting for his foot to trample on him. At least, not at the exact moment. As soon as he pulled his right foot, he heard something move underneath his feet, and as he looked down he stopped his foot from landing upon the bear trap. He retreated backwards, and stepped on a twig with a snap.

The three villagers suddenly halted and looked over their shoulders. As soon as they saw Leon, they growled like animals. And then they pulled out knives from their belts, and charged him. But Leon had his handgun drawn, and with three pulls of the trigger the three villagers were down.

At that moment, his radio beeped.

Leon pulled it off his belt and spoke; "Kennedy."

"Kennedy! What's the situation?" a voice spoke on the radio.

"Who's this?" Leon asked; caution was in his voice.

"Oh! Sorry. I'm Ingrid Hunnigan, and I'll be your support on this mission."

"Where's Daniel Betts?" asked Leon.

"He's been relieved of his position. I'm filling in."

"Now hold on, what the hell's going on?"

"The President has other duties for your friend in the States. For now, you're gonna have to trust me."

"Well… I don't have much of a choice, now."

"Good. Now, what's the situation? Have you found the President's Daughter?"

"No. But I _have _found trouble."

"What kind of trouble?"

"I've been attacked by more than three people so far. All had the intent to murder me."

"Who were your attackers?"

"Well, judging from their appearance, they were simple farmers."

Silence on the radio.

"Did you get that?"

"Yes, I did. You say 'villagers'?"

"YES!"

"Well, what was your COA?"

"Self defense; all dead."

"I understand… but can you answer a question?"

"What is it?"

"…did they happen to have a drastic appearance unlike anything you've seen?"

Leon was silent for a moment.

"Yes. One of them looked dead, and they all had a glare in their eyes like a wolf."

Silence on the radio.

"I see…" said Hunnigan. "Well, there's a village up ahead of you. Take caution form now on. If the rest of these villagers are just the same, you don't want to be noticed."

"What's going on?"

"Contact me when you find the President's daughter."

The transmission was cut by silence.

Leon cursed in anger. He wished Dan was working with him on this one. He didn't like working with strangers. But seeing as Hunnigan seemed to be in charge, now, he had to do as followed. Besides, he had to find the President's daughter. So, holding his gun close to him, he turned away and walked down the path again.

The day was getting older. Of course, it was not that easy to tell since it was all overclouded, and it was dark all the same. A dark shadow hung over everything, like a dreadful doom or blanket over the road ahead. The trees loomed like dark old men, hidden eyes glaring out and waiting; waiting for what was a complication to the human mind itself. Leon felt uneasy underneath their branches, as though they were going to swipe at him any time soon. Resting on them were black crows, hawking as though telling a tale of death almost upon him. Were they foretelling something?

Leon kept his attention on the ground as well. He didn't want to step his foot in the wrong place like that dog did; he couldn't rescue the daughter of the president without his foot working well. But he also feared the chance that the next time he would look up would be the end of his life; one of those… people hacking him to death was an image he feared.

Soon the path began slanting upwards, almost uphill. At the top, the road then curved down to a ledge with a hut nearby, and a bridge crossing deep gorge. There was smoke coming out of the hut's chimney, and a grotesque smell slithered from that hut. Across the gorge the path then curved leftwards from a cliff face, and from then on the road would curve to the right at the end of the cliff face and towards the beyond.

Leon carefully climbed down the hill, hoping to find no bear traps or any villagers. And then he heard voices again.

He halted immediately and cowered behind a tree. Then he listened, and the voices stopped. He waited a bit more for anything else, but there wasn't. Then he looked around the trunk of the tree with his gun pointed where he looked, and saw no villager. He moved away from the tree, and then an axe came swiping for his neck from behind.

But he had heard him behind him, and as soon as the axe was coming for him, he ducked out of the way and then dug his knee into the villager. He was knocked back a few steps in surprise, and then another villager from the thickets came shouting Spanish with a sickle in his hands and two other villagers.

"Shit!" Leon cursed, and without another word he pulled the trigger. But to his surprise, the pitchfork wielding villager moved his head and then lunged his pitchfork at Leon. Noticing almost too late, the ex-S.T.A.R.S. cop moved to the side just in time, and then he pulled it with his free hand and the villager was thrown towards Leon; a knife soon dug into the villager's throat, who was then thrown towards the axe wielding villager, and due to the surprise and force the both of them fell into the gorge, roaring in Spanish and then vanished.

The other two came lunging towards him, and he ran clear away from them so that he could get a better range. But they chased him, and so Leon ran towards the hut, kicked against the side of the hut, and using the energy he jumped off the side and then twisted his hips and aimed a powerful kick to the nearest villager's neck. Successful was his kick that the villager was knocked to the side with his neck broken, and then with the other villager Leon stabbed his knife into his ribs. The villager halted for a moment, and then grabbed at Leon by the neck, as though the knife didn't matter at all.

_Damn it!_

Leon was thrown about like a ragged doll once again, and the grip upon his neck was aching and painful; he felt his neck was going to crack pretty soon. It was hard for him to move at the moment, but he managed to pull his gun up and shoot a round into the villager's eye. Blood gushed out from the other side of the villager's head with a snap, and the hold upon Leon's neck was released. The villager fell dead.

Leon panted and gasped for breath to return to him, bending over slightly and rubbing his neck. He glared at the villager. _I stabbed him in the ribs; how could he act like I didn't!_

Then he remembered that smell. As he sniffed about, it realized that it came from inside the hut. He knew that smell before.

_Death._

He held his handgun up and slowly opened the door. It was dark inside, and the only thing in it was a bed in the corner, covered by what happened to be skin and decay; tools lay on the shelves of the back wall and side wall. He walked in to look at the bed, thinking that was the source of the smell; but he was far from wrong. For it came from the side, the smell that is, and his eyes followed it, and soon came upon the sight of a dead woman, decapitated and hung up by means of a nail driven through her breast. Her clothes were covered with her own blood, and her nails had pieces of skin and blood inside and all over them; apparently not her own.

Leon almost puked at the sight of it. He covered his mouth and squinted his eyes in disgust. What being on earth could do this? _A monster would be the best one; a monster without sex discrimination… nothing or no one on this earth deserves to be killed like this, no matter what crime._

He crossed himself for the sake of the woman, and he whispered the words, 'Mercy upon her soul', and then without another look he left the hut.

Once he left the hut, he stopped at the front of the bridge. It was flat and long, at least big enough for a truck to drive over. It certainly looked sturdy enough to support a truck, but Leon still felt uneasy. He looked over his shoulder and above him to be sure nothing was glaring at him from afar. Then when he placed a foot on the bridge, the treetops behind him suddenly began rustling with loud noise, and Leon flicked his handgun in that direction in surprise. Crows began flying away.

_No need to get antsy…_

So Leon looked back at the bridge, and he walked over it. The gorge below him was quite dark and deep, but with the use of his ears he heard the sound of rushing water beneath him. A river ran there, possibly with rocky bottoms and other river dangers. Leon forced himself not to look down, keeping his head forward to the other side. He wanted to get to find Ashley soon, not later; now.

With an easy push off the last board, he crossed the bridge. The other side was no better looking – or less shadowy looking – than the other side. It had brambles and thickets and black trees all over the place, and the dirt road curving to the left and away from the rocky cliff face. The road then followed at the foot of the cliff face and then bent sharply to the right after a few yards. Leon made every step careful and studied, for without them he would not sense his whereabouts. He hoped he would not be attacked at any point at any time.

When he went around the corner, what stood a yard away from him was a small gate; from afar Leon could see bone-like structures performing an archway over the gate, with strange symbols and words carved all over it. Leon made his way a bit closer and studied the two polls at the sides. At their tops were actual skulls with inscriptions carved into their faces, and below each of them like a spine was a wooden stack with ill drawings and incantations. Leon could speak some of them, but he dared not to. The path beyond the gate was darkly shadowed by the tops of trees that hung over the path, like ill and bent men. Far ahead of that for sure was a light. That had to have been his destination.

With one look behind him, Leon then looked back to that dark path. He emptied a magazine from his handgun and replaced it with a fresh one. Then with one deep breath, he vanished under the veil of darkness.


	4. The Village

Viewers be warned. It's a bit wild here.

* * *

It seemed like night under those trees, even with the dim light of the sun in the pale clouds. Every step that Leon took was carefully made, fearing that his next moment would trap him in a deadly situation. He dreaded seeing those villagers again. He didn't know if he could outlast a whole _army _of them if the rest were like the ones before. _Who knows_, Leon thought to himself; _maybe it will get easier._

He heard rustling in the trees. He cocked his gun in position at a sudden jump to readiness, fearing that some other evil was creeping up on him. Nothing but trees stood where his gun was pointed at. He feared it anyways, even if it was nothing. He wondered if his eyes and ears were playing with him. Was there something behind the trees? Leon question himself, bent on whether reality or fantasy was playing at him like a trick from the darkness. But no matter what, as long as he had his gun loaded, he felt that nothing could get between that and himself.

More and every yard he drew closer to the light ahead of him. Every yard gained he could see what lay beyond. It felt almost like being under a tunnel, that with every yard his destination would be clearer. Yet he dreaded it. He partly wished he didn't have to go on.

Sure enough, he was more close to the light than before, and his destination was quite clear. As soon as he was standing at the opening, many huts and cabins were scattered all over the place ahead, ordered like a small village. Smoke came softly out of their chimneys, bringing upon the air a foul smell of burning… skin. Leon didn't really know what to make of it, other than to describe it as that. No wood could let out such a fowl smell.

Then there was a greater smoke drifting from the center of the village as far as Leon could see. Apparently, a big wood burning of the sorts was going on in that village. To check it out, Leon slowly crept towards it like a patient serpent, biding its time and keeping out of sight. He could hear voices, now, every time he was coming closer to the village. He tip-toed his way to the nearest tree a yard away from the closest cabin, and hiding partly behind it with his head poking round the trunk, he pulled out his electro binoculars and scoped the scene. In front of his eyes, the diameter and distance was shortened and his scope went high; he could see more of those villagers, walking about and tending to their daily lives. He saw a carpenter working on a coffin, built like the vampiric coffins, making the hands cross the chest if one were to lay in it. He saw another villager piling hay onto a hay cart on the other side of the village center. A woman was carrying a basket and picking weeds coming out of the earth.

Then his eyes came upon the source of the big smoke. He guessed partly right, however. He could see clearly that old wood was being burned to ashes, but he soon discovered the source of the foul smell as well. The body of a man hung from a wooden post over the fire and was set ablaze. He was mangled and beaten, and from the looks he was slit by the neck.

What troubled Leon most about that was that none of the villagers seemed to pay any mind to the dead man hanging over the fire.

"Who on earth would do such a thing?" he asked to himself.

Then he remembered that which he dreaded; was that he had to walk into that village. But would he have to go noticed? There was no way in Leon's mind that he was going there saying, 'Hi, I'm Leon Kennedy, and I'm an agent from the U.S.A. sent to find the President's Daughter. She has been reported to have been taken to these parts; can you help me find her?' and get a good response. They would sooner impale him than answer him, so he thought. Not one villager in that place even noticed the dead man; or frankly did not care.

_Well, there can't be any backing out of this one. Besides, luck may be on my side._

Carefully he moved to the left of the tree off of the road to sneak undetected; the cover of the trees would do him good, and he could sneak around the village behind the cabins and huts. It would work this way.

He had already made it halfway down the path to the nearest hut when he heard a shout. It was one of the villagers! He'd been caught!

He quickly hid by cover of a bush with his gun ready for action; looking everywhere to see where they were going to come at him. However, he saw nothing different. He looked a bit wider, letting his guard down a bit, to see clearer. Then he realized; the shout wasn't directed to him. It was over something else, from the sound of it. It had nothing to do with him.

Leon sighed in relief. Then he slowly began making his way towards the village from behind the trees again; he had let his guard down, and he though the coast was clear. He didn't see any villager, nor did he think he was going to get caught. He felt as though he was clearing the way easily. Then as he was nearing the end of the trees and the start of the backs of the cabins and huts, he began thinking it was _too _easy.

And then she stepped out from between the cabins and staring moving his way. The villager, an ugly, gnarled old woman with a bucket of water in her aged hand was walking to water the garden, which Leon just stepped on top of. When Leon realized this, he suddenly jumped off and had a guilty look on his face. The old woman simply stared at him.

"I'm… _so _sorry, _señorita_," he apologized; "I didn't see it standing there, I must have overlooked it."

The woman stared at him a while longer, before she moved towards the back of the hut. She rested the bucket of water on the ground… and then she reached for the weed-picker and hissed at Leon.

"Oh shit…" he cursed. He raised his gun up at her cautiously; the woman walked slow at first, and then her speed increased as she came closer to him, and then she swiped the weed-picker at his face.

He ducked and rolled out of the way just in time to dodge it, and then it came at him once again; he rolled just in time, and then he got back up and thrust his leg out and drove the woman flying back and against the cabin.

As soon as he began to walk away from the woman, he knew that the ear of any man nearby would have heard that. For as soon as he was backing away, he suddenly heard the shout of a man just down the way behind the huts. Leon looked to the gaps between the huts from behind, and saw the horrendous sight of the villagers shouting accusingly in his direction.

_Oh shit; my worst fear…_

Then he heard growls behind him; he looked behind and they were stalking him with pitchforks, sickles, hammers, and axes. He swore he saw a butcher among them with a bloodied knife in his hands. His lips were bloodied too, showing his ugly smile.

Then he looked the other way, and they were there too. _God, I'm surrounded!_

But then, a shine of hope was in his eyes as he looked to the cabin next door; it was two stories, and big enough to hide him. To get there was going to be a challenge. But then, he looked to the cabin he was behind, and there was a back door!

He kicked it right open, and suddenly was greeted by a villager thrusting a pole at him. It barely got him in the side as he turned his hips; then he pulled on the staff and threw the man out of the cabin. He jumped right in and closed the door. But as soon as he was heading for the front, the door was shattered by bare hands; a burly villager was among them with red eyes.

He didn't even bother with the _front _door. He ran to the window and then dove through it. He landed just perfectly, for he was on his feet immediately and running to the two-story cabin. He could see a pitch-fork wielding woman already running to him from the right. He aimed just as he was running and shot the woman by the shoulder. It caused her to stumble back a few steps, and enough time to get him farther away from her and closer to the cabin.

At the front was a fence; he quickly jumped over it and slammed into the door. The villagers were almost close behind him, cursing and ready to throw their pointed steel weapons at him. He quickly opened the door and closed it behind him. He began hear them knocking on the door with tremendous thuds. He leaned against it as soon as he noticed the doorknob turn. The force of the villagers was tough as they tried pushing the door open. Thankfully it wasn't going to work.

The doorknob was then let go. Leon noticed a big wooden drawer resting under the wooden-blocked window to the right of the door. Quickly, he ran to the other side and pushed it in front of the door. That would hold them for a while.

Then through the window he looked, and he could see them gathering around the cabin. He could see a round villager, as pale as he was bald, with a sickle in his hands ordering the villagers to surround the house (according to the Spanish he spoke). He could see them slamming their hands and weapons against the outside walls of the cabins, growling like hungry animals and snickering as though they trapped a hare.

_Why are they doing this?_

Suddenly, he heard the worst thing he could imagine coming from behind the crowd of unstoppable villagers. It was loud like a lion's growling, disturbing and horrifying. It rumbled and shook Leon's ears, and gave him the worst images of his death imaginable.

It was a loud motor. And from behind the crowds he saw a grotesque person covered with grime and hay, with his head covered by a potato sack and given two holes for the eyes. Behind them he saw red glows; and below them was a large gap for what appeared to be his mouth. It was like looking at the mouth of a wolf.

His body looked somewhat distorted by muscles and distress perhaps in his D.N.A. code. The monstrous villager had the source of the horrible noise in his two burly hands.

It was a chainsaw.

CRASH!

From upstairs, he heard the windows break open. Then he looked carefully out the blocked window again, and he could see that they had already gotten ladders up onto the cabin. It was no doubt that they were already climbing up. But Leon couldn't let them.

Leon immediately found the stairs in the back of the room, and just as he did he heard the door crash open. He saw the big burly villager again with the red eyes, and he had broken the door to pieces. Then he raised his hands up above the drawer, and with brute strength he crushed the drawer once. He raised them again to crush the drawer a second time.

By the time that was to happen, Leon was already going upstairs. Once up there, his attention went to the window on his left. The top of a ladder was poking through.

He rushed towards it with great haste, and he saw just in time that a villager was almost at the top. No matter; he pushed with his strength and the ladder and the villager crashed on top of a shed. Victory was his for that moment.

Then he heard the rumble of the chainsaw again. He looked in order down the staircase, and he already knew that monster was already coming. How was he going to endure this!

Something caught his eye over his left shoulder. It was a shotgun encased on the wall, with eight shells resting underneath it! Hope filled his heart. But he wasn't going to waste time.

With the butt of his handgun, he broke it open and quickly took the shotgun and its shells. Holstering his handgun, he opened the cartridge of the shotgun, and as he was loading it with the shells he was backing away from the staircase; the monster was already on its way. He could just see its horrible eyes wanting to see him sawed in two.

When one shell was in, the monster charged at the top of the staircase and came towards him with speed. Leon just stepped away in time to dodge the vertical saw strike. Then the monster raised its chainsaw to hack at his neck, but Leon knew that was coming already. Then with a duck, he placed the other shell inside the cartridge, and then locked it up. The monster shot a look down at him, only to see the nozzle of the shotgun.

"Choke on lead, you ugly motherfucker from hell!" Leon pulled the trigger, and the monster's head shot backwards along with its body, and the force of the shotgun caused it to fall back and out the window. Leon ran to the window to see if he had really defeated the monster. The monster's head was entirely covered in blood and almost off it's over. It seemed he did it done. The motor of the chainsaw had died.

But he was not finished. The villagers were now running up the stairs to avenge the monster. Leon ran away from the staircase top with his shotgun already reloaded. When the first villager came at the top, he held the shotgun in one hand and pulled out his handgun; the villager was knocked back as the shot came at its shoulder. But it did not fall and die. Another shot came at his leg, and he was still standing.

_What does it take to kill these bastards! _Leon thought to himself. Then he remembered how he dealt with the zombies, and soon he thought applying it to these villagers would work. It was worth a try; he was not going to be stopped by these insane people.

Leon pulled the trigger again, and the bullet went to the head this time. Apparently, the villager fell and did not come up again. This actually confused Leon. But as soon as the rest of the villagers started crowding the second level, the government agent did not think twice before breaking the window open and jumped out and onto the roof.

Once on the roof, he glared down at the gigantic crowd of villagers below him, shouting, cursing, and stalking at him. Almost like zombies. They raised their weapons in defiance and anger as they hoped to do the worst to him. Leon almost didn't see it, but several villagers had the same idea and were on the roofs of other cabins. They had their weapons ready to be tossed at Leon.

The first to come at him was a pitchfork, thrown much like a javelin at the Olympics. Only it wanted to dig into Leon instead of the ground a few hundred yards away, while Leon was more or less two yards away from the nearest villager on the other roof. But Leon was actually a precise aim, and had been specially trained to deal with small objects from afar with a pistol. He could see the pitchfork almost like it was sailing at him in slow motion. He held his handgun up, and with his special aim, he pulled the trigger upon seeing the head of the pitchfork.

The bullet caused the head of the pitchfork to flick upwards, with its butt end coming up and towards Leon. He thought he could use this to his advantage. He let go of the shotgun and quickly grabbed the pitchfork from thwacking him. Then generating the force of the pitchfork, he reversed it and let it sail back to the villager. It caught him in the chest and threw him off the roof.

Leon suddenly saw that sickles of great numbers, along with other pitchforks and even axes, were sailing towards him. It was like a house of a thousand daggers, or a swarm of killer bees.

Leon tried dodging them without getting hurt. But a sickle nearly scraped his shoulder, causing him to twitch in response, and an axe just nearly grazed his knee. Nothing could have caused him to jump off the roof, other than try and dodging the rest of the flying daggers.

He fell rather harshly on his knee, causing him to suddenly collapse and fall. He gasped in pain and quickly tried to get back on his feet. But then he felt the butt end of a wooden club smack him in the back. He was lucky the bat didn't crucially break him, but it did force him to fall to the ground. He writhed in pain for a small second, and just as he was ready to get up, he looked about him. All around him were villagers; men and women, even boys and girls, all had fatal weapons in their hands. He saw the burly man amongst them, now having a gigantic axe in his hands and great wrath in his eyes. The woman he saw earlier was the one who smacked in from the back with a wooden club. All the villagers stared at him, grasping their tools used as weapons of death.

_Is this it? _He asked in his mind. He couldn't get up, he could move at all. He was paralyzed with fear and failure. He would die either way if he moved or not. So he was not going to go down like a coward and not move at all.

He stood up and aimed at a villager; the bullet caught him in the nose and to the brain, killing him. Then he heard them move, and behind him he kicked a villager in the loins and then reached and broke the man's neck. But he didn't see the woman. She came and hit him in the shoulder, sending him to collapse once again. As soon as he was falling, the villagers were raising their weapons, and then with their monstrous screams they began to bring their weapons down upon Leon. This was indeed the end.

Or so it seemed:

_DONNNNNG…_

The sound obscured all the noise that came to Leon's ears. It was clearest and loudest of all. It stopped all the noise, and then there was silence. Leon had his eyes closed, so he expected he was now in heaven. But what would he see when he opened his eyes? Would it be heaven or hell? Or was he actually in Purgatory?

Slowly he let an eye drift open, and he found where he was: on the ground with the tips of a sickle, a pitchfork, and an axe just barely touching his cheek. The villagers glared at him, but they didn't go any further than where their weapons stopped.

_DINNNNNNNGGG…_

The sound came again. The villagers turned their heads to the east as though that was where the sound came from. Leon didn't want to move his face and cause attention to be drawn back to him.

_DOOONNNNG…_

It came again, and this time the villagers withdrew their weapons and faced eastwards. Their shoulders waved back and forth as though they were tired; and strange moans came out of their mouths, like they were tired and eager to sleep.

_DIIIINNNNNG…!_

It came again, and the villagers dropped their weapons. They slowly began to stalk eastwards. They didn't even acknowledge Leon any more. They were more drawn to the east. He slowly began to get back on his feet. But he was hesitant. He wondered if they were going to go after him again like before. But no; they just kept walking east.

The fat and bald villager he saw commanding the other villagers earlier walked past him, and out like a growl Leon heard him say a few words: "Lord Sadler calls..." and then he moved on with the rest of the mob, hulking and stalking like zombies. Leon couldn't understand them one bit. In fact, they practically scared him just by acting this way.

The villagers began walking east, away from the village, to some unknown territory that Leon did not want to see. More than ever, he was more relieved to see them go. After all, he only wanted to find out where Ashley was. And following his fear, he chose not to go where they were going.

Leon, meanwhile, tried to both gather himself after having survived the horror, and also try and grasp the idea of what the hell just happened. First, they were after him and ready to tear him to pieces of necessary to their bent minds. Second, they decided to attend mass on a Wednesday. Then third, Leon needed to find cover in case those villagers came back.

Then he remembered about that 'Hunnigan' or whatever, and he pulled out his radio and then looked around for cover. He quickly looked for cover behind the cabins and found it near a dumpster letting out a foul smell. He didn't care about it for the moment. He sat down on the uneven earth to hide, and he clicked the radio on.

"Kennedy, Kennedy calling," he said; "Hunnigan, can you read me?"

There was static for a short while, and then the woman's voice came on the radio.

"Kennedy! What's your status?" she asked.

Leon halted for a moment to gather himself again. He hadn't been crowded like that by enemies since Raccoon City. To survive that was like trying to survive a war all by himself. Then he spoke to the radio.

"I'm in the village. I just barely survived."

"Were the rest of the villagers the same?" she asked.

"Yes," replied Leon. "They all had the intent to murder me."

"How many were there? An entire village!" gasped Ingrid.

"From my opinion, it seemed like half a village, but enough to carve me up for their dinner specialty," said Leon. "One of them was monstrous and wanted to carve me up with his chainsaw."

"Good God…" gasped Ingrid. "What about Ashley? Have you found her yet?"

"No. I'm planning to go around the place, find supplies and perhaps hints to finding her," he said; "oh, by the way. I forgot to ask about this little gizmo Fuerto gave to me before I took off the airport at Valencia. It looks like a pad with buttons; when I press it, it shows a map. Is this some kind of Metal Gear radar thing?"

"No, but it works the same way," Ingrid said; "almost like how this radio works, only it doesn't have video conference. That pad you hold can show you satellite pictures of the area you're in direct from the satellite in space."

"Cool," Leon said; "now I feel like a bigger agent than before. You can call me Snake."

"Just find Ashley and don't waste time," Ingrid said, nervously.

Leon sighed. Then he began coughing terribly as he inhaled that terrible smell. "Roger—" cough, cough.

"Are you alright there?"

"Yeah… There's a bad smell coming from nearby." Leon finally smelt a bit more, and discovered it coming from the dumpster. Slowly he stood up and looked inside what it had. He nearly downright puked.

"What's wrong?" Ingrid asked.

Leon replied after a while later. "Bodies. Mutilated, and thrown into this dumpster I've been hiding behind for this transmission… Dear God, mercy upon their souls… I'm gonna look for Ashley and find her!"


	5. Luis Sera

**_Here's where it gets a bit strange. Be warned that this works for the purpose of the story, mostly to reduce heavy repetition. And also, have something to eat and drink nearby. This is a long chapter. -Tenial_**

* * *

After that, Leon put away his radio and then looked about him— though first, he decided to move away from the dumpster. He had already smelt it once, and to smell it for seconds wasn't the best idea. He pitied the poor souls who were dead in that dumpster, but there was nothing more he could do for them at that point. They were already in Hell or Heaven, and the more he _could _do about them was to have pity on them. 

_But nevermore_, Leon thought to himself; _nothing must stop me._

Indeed, he had seen much to compare with those dead bodies. Mostly he had seen much of that in Raccoon City, and they were controlled by the T-virus; such a horrible fate for those poor people. The T-Virus robbed them of their lives, and it made it worse by bringing them back. Umbrella was horrible in those days. Nothing that they did could remedy for what they did before. All they did was make it worse, and to top it off they tried to cover it up by blaming those who fought for what was right.

_Umbrella's down and gone, however, so they can't come back. They've been confiscated of all their research, of all their plans; they're done. And thank God for that._

It was until he had finished this thought that something remarkable reminded him of where he was. Everywhere he looked; there was not a single villager. But everywhere he heard; there was silence too. It was almost _too _quiet. There had to be something to disturb the air.

Leon investigated almost hut and cabin in the entire village, hoping to find something to answer his thoughts on the matter. They were all empty— and quiet. He pondered about whether this was a good thing or not, hoping that it was good when feeling that it wasn't. He didn't have to deal with villagers or anything of that sort. But he also didn't know what to do at that point. He was blank of ideas, and he became frightened.

He discovered the Prison Cabin again; the one he was trapped in by those villagers. He braved to go inside, fearing that a villager was awaiting him… but when he entered, he hoped to find bodies. He went upstairs, and all the bodies that should have been up there were gone! All the blood had been vanished— and the monster he destroyed was nowhere to be seen. Now, more than ever, he became even more afraid.

He discovered the shotgun outside the window, still laying in wait for him to take it on the roof. As he stepped out of the window, the wood began to creak underneath his weight. He halted immediately and shivered; to disturb the silence now would have been the worst, in Leon's subconscious. Carefully, he tried to make as little sound as possible, while he reached out for the shotgun.

_Praise be to God all the villagers are gone…_

And praised He was by Leon, for he managed to get the shotgun without making any moretroubled noises. And then carefully, he made his way back to the window and slowly lunged a foot over the windowsill to creep into the house. Then he halted as he raised his head to see something… or someone… standing at the far end of the second floor corridor.

He blinked at it, and within the next blink, whatever he saw was gone. He tried blinking again to see if it would come back; and then he feared it would after the next blink. But it was gone, and it didn't come back. He was partly grateful it didn't, but curiosity was beating in his mind like a panting heartbeat. He then climbed over the windowsill and fully inside the cabin's second floor corridor in confusion, looking at where he saw that 'thing' last.

_What was it? _Leon wondered. And at this, curiosity had taken him over. But sense was still there, and he held up the shotgun in both of his hands; and warily stepped towards the end of the corridor. The floorboards beneath creaked, Leon finally noticed. Whatever made noise, whether it was the creaking of the cabin walls, or whether it was the floorboards beneath his feet, had now come to Leon's sharper senses. His vision was almost blurry, but that could have been due to the dust coming off of the walls and the ceiling. Apparently, it was so cloudy that barely any light got into the cabin. That could have been the reason… but Leon feared something more. It almost made him want to close his eyes, like the times where you're lying on the couch and suddenly your eyes are trying to close.

_Oh Christ… I'm tired to the core…_

He didn't realize that he was yawning as he was walking towards the other end. And as soon as he forced his eyes to open again, he realized that thought of fatigue overcoming him.

_No, I can't sleep now…! I gotta find Ashley! It doesn't matter if I couldn't sleep well last night. All that matters is that I find Ashley and get her out of here… but I feel so tired… _

Leon was almost ready to fall down on his knees by this point. The shotgun felt heavy in his hands. He felt like going to sleep… at least, he didn't care about anything else at that point… anymore…

That was the point where he finally fell down on his knees. His vision became even more blurred, and he felt as though he was under some kind of spell. Why was he feeling so tired, now? Now was the point where he was questioning himself. Why was he doing this? He couldn't do this now!

He shook his fatigue, and he made himself stand. But as he did, he felt as though something smacked him on the back of his legs; for he fell right back down on the ground again. He felt awfully tired… but he couldn't give up on his duty… on the President… on Ashley…

_I must go on…I can't sleep now…_

Then he felt strength leave his arms, and his chest fell down on the floorboards, ensuing more creaks and moans from them. His breathing became slow and relaxed, and his body felt limp. He managed to, however, try and move his arms… but they flung out like jell, and his fingers could barely move. He raised his head barely to see his fingers, and right in front of them were two black boots. His blurred eyes gazed at those boots in wonder, and then as he was looking up, his sight was lost and he was knocked out by some kind of fatigue. Though the last thing he remembered seeing were two eyes staring down at him; one pale and blue, and the other, devouring and fiery…

_

* * *

_

_Could it have been a dream, all of this? Am I still in my place back in North Carolina? Am I really not a government agent…? If so, why did I dream all of this? I can't believe I would have… it just doesn't seem dream able. But then again, so did my dreams of Raccoon City. However, were _they _all just a dream? Good God… I'm starting to sound like a lunatic._

Leon Kennedy could still feel the numbness in his body, and the visions of sleep were all passing away as his eyes stared at the back of his eyelids. He could hear again, and his thoughts began to come into place. Blood began rushing again in his body as he slowly woke up again… but he felt terrible.

As he tried to move, a sudden pain issued in his back and he gasped and held still. He finally opened his eyes, and at last his nightmares came true again. Everything that happened to him was not a dream, because he had experienced them all. All those zombies, those creatures… he had fought them. William Birkin and Mr. X… he fought them. Claire Redfield… he knew her. And Ada Wong… he knew her too.

And the Village, he fought in.

He found himself sitting upright, tied at the waist and unable to move his arms too much in a dank and dark cabin. There were blocked windows, and the only bit of light coming through them was through a small chink. Otherwise, it was pitch black in that cabin.

When he tried to move them, he could feel nothing but restraint ropes tied around him. He tired moving harder, but no budge. At last, he tried to stand up but he fell right back on his butt. He wasn't lying down, however. He discovered that his back was up against something… and since he was feeling frustrated at that moment, he thought he was tied against a wall, and to show his frustration he threw his head back to hit against the 'wall'. Apparently, however, he felt like smacking his head into a bowling ball, and what he hit happened to have moved in the direction his head was going. The headbutt heard a lot, and it didn't just hurt Leon…

Behind him, he discovered he was actually tied against _someone else_, with his back against the other person's bag. He moved his hands, and he could actually feel someone else's hands tied behind their back too. The other person's hands were about the same size as Leon's, but they were the hands of a gentleman.

"Ow! _Madre de dios! _What kind of _pendeho _are you!" the other person cursed.

Leon would have smacked the side of his head in repentance if his arms weren't tied. So instead, he had to crunch his face and absorb the humility. "Sorry!" he said; then he remembered that he wasn't back in a civilized world. And he began thinking: _Wait a minute. If I'm in this God forsaken place where no one speaks English… who could this guy be?_

"You should be, _homes!_" the other person growled. "I could get a concussion thanks to you!" He had a strong Spanish accent on the curve of his tongue, almost whip-like but gentle. Leon remembered a certain man who used to be a gentleman, who if angry had such a voice that was whip-like as was this man's. _A gentleman Spaniard in _this _place? That doesn't sound right._

"Who are you?" Leon asked.

"Who am I? Who are you! And why are you speaking to me like you know English?"

"Because I speak it!"

"Don't bullcrap me, you _Ganado_, I know you meant to hit me on purpose—" then he stopped. There was a silence between the two.

"You're… not one of them?" the man's voice became curious.

"I suppose you're not either. The last person who was angry at me tried to maul me to death."

"I see… you Americano, no?"

"I can see you're now awake."

"I have been for a while. I was just wondering if you were one of them tied against me. Of course, now I know how _stupido _that sounds now…"

"Do you know who they are? And how did you get here?"

"I dunno who they are; I just call 'em _Ganado _because I overheard their village chief call them that."

"Who's their chief?"

"I dunno, but I did see a tall man standing in front of me before I passed out somewhat several hours ago. First I was placed in this cabinet somewhere in this place, and then they woke me up and started beating me. And they would have killed me, but then their village chief came and put me out. Then I wake up and find myself in this position, and then – POW – you start bangin' heads."

"Tall man… somehow, I have the feeling I've met him before."

"Beg your pardon, _señor_? Sorry for calling you a _pendeho _while back; I guess I'm just angry for bein' here."

"Why are you here?"

"My captain said that a U.S. Government Agent was sent over to these parts to find someone precious to the U.S.; and that they wanted someone on my Police Force to meet up with you there so that they could help you. They sent me."

"Looks like they've been informed about my situation."

"So you are looking for the President's daughter?"

"What makes you think the person this agent is looking for is the President's daughter?"

"I have good memory and good hearing, and I overheard those _Ganado _talking about a Government Agent looking for her in the church."

"And who might you be?"

"Me? I'm Luis Sera. I used to be a top cop in Madrid, but after a while they cut me off. Now, I'm just a good for nothing guy, who happens to be quite the ladies' man."

"You're ex-cop? Then how come they sent you?"

"Well, lemme remember… Ah! I remember. My captain wanted someone who was more skilled than anyone on the force, suspended or no. I was not going to take this mission, but then my captain promised me a good reward when I came back."

"Heh, looks like your captain will eat those words."

Luis chuckled. "Yeah, _amigo_, I couldn't agree more."

There was another silence between the two. And finally, Luis broke it again.

"Who might you be, _amigo_?"

"I'm the agent you were sent to cover."

"Ah! I knew it! No wonder you are here! Otherwise, why the bother? This is such a boring, old place filled with creepy old people. Now, I guess they're just homicidal. Not the tourist place for foreigners now, my friend."

"I found that out the hard way. First villager I came across wanted to carve me up."

Luis chuckled again. "The same goes for me. Though I think I had it a bit harder as I came to the lake. Apparently, due to the reports of kidnapping in these areas, several policemen from Madrid were already sent to scour the place. When I came to the lake, I scoped from afar and saw that the villagers were dumping their bodies in the lake. I dunno, _amigo_… that lake doesn't look very nice."

"How so?"

"At first, I though the bodies were dumped there so that they would sink to the bottom of the lake. But it appears they had other things in mind."

"What kind of things?"

"Not too sure, for as I kept watching, several villagers behind me caught me. I'm a fast draw, however, and I took them out quickly. That alerted some more, and I was overrun by them. I wasn't killed, thankfully… but I fear they're gonna do worst to us, my American friend."

Leon groaned at the thought of that. If that chainsaw monster was still alive… the American agent shivered at the thought.

"What about you? How did a man like you get involved? I mean, being a Government agent isn't that easy to be; or attainable easily."

Leon sighed. "Well, I'm ex-cop as well. And it didn't last longer than my first day on the force."

Luis scoffed; "Heh, and I thought I had it worst."

"Somehow, I got caught up in the incident at Raccoon City… I don't know whether it was fate or coincidence. All I just know is I managed to escape by a bare chance."

"That… was where the viral outbreak occurred, wasn't it?"

Leon nodded, and Luis could feel it.

"Sweet Jesus!" gasped Luis.

"I know… and it wasn't easy, I'll tell you that. To see all those people, once happy and alive, to be dead and haunting."

"I heard about what happened, but I never thought it was true," said Luis. "Is it true they came back from the grave?"

"Not directly; just from being dead. Trouble was, they didn't stay that way. And all of it was caused by a corrupted pharmaceutical company called Umbrella Corporations. Myself and a few others, some from a special police force unit called S.T.A.R.S., Special Tactics and Rescue Squad, managed to survive the horror that was Raccoon. And after that incident, they sanitized the entire city to stop the infection. But it spread to somewhere else in Europe… though that too was stopped. Now, Umbrella is destroyed, and most of everyone I know hopes that its research has been completely destroyed."

Luis was silent for a moment. Leon began to wonder if Luis knew something else about this.

"You awake there?" asked Leon.

"Hmm? Oh! Yes, I'm wide awake. It's just that… was this virus called the Tyrant Virus?"

"Yes… but what about that?"

"Well, I believe I have a sample of it in my lap at my department."

Leon froze and gazed horrified at the darkness. He was praying that Luis was going to say 'joke' at the next moment. But apparently, Luis was waiting for Leon's response.

"You're kidding, right!" Leon gasped.

Luis would have replied. But then they heard voices outside the door. Luis and Leon stopped talking immediately after hearing their voices. They were speaking in Spanish, but both of the men tied up could understand what they were saying.

"Sir, the girl is safely put in the church with Lord Saddler," said a voice outside.

"Very good," said another; his voice was deep and penetrating, like a voice from the deep waters, but troubling. "As he as told us, our American friend has done us the great purpose of kidnapping the President's daughter to carry out his demands. But with him, we shall spread our word!"

"Yes," said the other voice; it was emotionless and almost blank. "Now, concerning the two men inside this cabin. Shall I kill them?"

"Well, they've no use to us. But if we let them go, they could ruin our plans. Enjoy," and thenthe twomen in the darknessheard footsteps walk away from the cabin and vanished.

Then, the door was thrown open. Dim sunlight began to light the cabin room through the open door, but almost blanked out by the sight of a dark figure standing at the doorway; with a large axe in his hands. Leon remembered the size of that villager. It was the burly villager from the Village.

And slowly he brought the axe up and started walking towards the two.

Luis was tense and almost squeamish. "Come, now, Mr. American! I don't want to die like this!"

Leon was trying to be calm, but with tense Luis behind his back and Mr. Burly Axe coming up to them, he didn't know whether to panic or not. All he knew was that the villager was not going to be merciful at all. There was no humanity in the way the villager acted, so there was no need to reasoning, since reason was not apparent in these inhuman beings.

Burly villager was a foot away from them when he was raising his axe and ready to hack the two men down. But Leon had an idea already. He noticed that there was a peculiar space between the two bound men, and that the direction the axe was going to take was vertical…

One shuffle away from Luis at the last minute, and the villager brought the axe down upon the ropes that bound them together. And at last, they were free from their imprisonment. Luis was surprised and was still on the floor, thinking he was dead. But as soon as he opened his eyes again, he could see Leon already coming onto his feet. The burly villager glared at the U.S. Agent in anger. The flaw with them being free was their hands were still bound behind their backs.

Luis shuffled to his feet behind the villager and had the opportunity to run. But would that have been just, Luis thought to himself. Leon could not take on this burly villager by himself by a long shot. No, Luis was more respectable than that.

As soon as the burly villager was ready to come upon Leon, Luis rushed him with a tackle from behind. The villager was, surprisingly, thrown off balance, and collapse to the floor. Leon was surprised as well.

Already the villager was getting back on his feet, attention now upon Luis. Leon had to act quickly, but without his hands he couldn't do anything. So he did what Jackie Chan would have done, and with a swift jump he swung his arms under his legs, and his bound hands were right in front of him. And he did this just in time, for the villager was on his feet, facing the floored Luis, and raising his axe behind his back. However, as he swung his arms down upon Luis, his axe was missing. Leon grasped it beforehand, and then with a swing the axe dung into the villager's neck.

The head crashed into the window, denting it as it did so, and then rolled down to Luis as the body collapsed. Blood gushed all over the place from both the head and the dead villager's neck. Thankfully, Leon and Luis had moved out of the way just in time to dodge the horrid gushing. After a while, the bleeding stopped, and everything was still. Silence was heavy in the air.

After that silence, Leon looked down and helped Luis back to his feet, cutting his bonds as well as his own. Luis looked at Leon with a look of gratitude, and then he looked down at the beheaded villager. Apparently, he didn't know what to say at that moment.

Then: "Well, if that man was told 'head's up' five times, this was his sixth."

Leon tried to find the humor in it, but he didn't. He looked around the room to see if any supplies were around, and surprisingly he found his gun and the shotgun on a counter on the wall. Next to them was a glistening silver magnum.

"Ahh, my little baby!" Luis gasped as he rushed to the magnum. He checked its barrel, closed it, andthen twirled it about a bit like some cowboy from the west. Then he aimed straight at the door, where someone stood there.

At first, Luis panicked and almost pulled the trigger, but the Leon stopped him after having examined who stood there. It daunted him to see that Guntar was standing there.

"By God, don't shoot!" cried Guntar as he cowered at the doorway.

Leon blinked and stepped up to him. "How in hell… is that you, Guntar?"

The man nodded. "_Si_, _domn. _I'm not one of those… people."

"Well, lucky for them. Who are you?" said Luis.

"I was Kennedy's driver!"

"President Kennedy?"

Leon shook his head. "No, that's me. My name's Leon Kennedy. Sorry for not telling you before."

"Oh… So, what are you doing here, _Guntar_?" asked Luis.

"Me and Arcano, the other driver, were waiting at the bridge for Leon in case he didn't find the President's Daughter. But once we heard gunshots from up ahead, we knew that something was going on. I went ahead to see what was happening, and then –voom- a massive truck beast came down the road and rammed into poor Arcano! The two literally went off the cliff, taking the bridge with it!"

_Dammit! Now I have no escape route, _Leon thought to himself. "I'm sorry to hear that Arcano didn't make it." He tapped Guntar on the shoulder.

The Spanish-Romanian driver nodded and sighed. "Well, at least I might be of some help. I can shoot, I can run. Hey, I _am _police."

"Finally, someone with police credentials," said Luis; "we're all exes."

Guntar still talked to Leon. "Any idea where the President's daughter might be?"

"I overheard a villagertalking about her being in the church, but… hey, wait a minute. How did you know to come here?"

"I was on my way to the village when I saw them carrying your body down to here. So I followed as best as I could, and just managed to not get caught. Though, that big guy sure scares me."

Leon had an idea who the deep-voiced stranger was, now. Though he wasn't important this time. What was more important was to get to Ashley.

"Well, I'd like to join this escapade of yours, but sadly, I'm needed elsewhere," Luis said, taking his gun and walking for the door. "But I think we'll be meeting again, Mr. Kennedy. Never you worry."

"Where are you going?" Leon inquired.

Luis chuckled. "Dun worry, _amigo_, I'll be watching your back from afar, from now on. _Hasta lambego_." And with that, Luis dashed out of the door and then vanished. When Leon looked out the door to see where he went, he couldn't see him anywhere.

Just then, Leon heard his radio call his attention. He took it out, hoping he was going to get good news.

"Kennedy here," he said.

"Leon! Where have you been? I tried to call you last time, but you didn't reply."

Then the thought occurred to Leon. Why didn't they take his radio?

"Well, apparently, I couldn't reply. I was asleep."

There was silence on the radio.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING ASLEEP!" shouted Hunnigan.

Leon had to pull back his ear away from the receiver to refrain from ear loss. Even Guntar winced.

"Let's just say I _had _to. The next time I wake up, I'm stuck in this cabin somewhere…" he found that they hadn't taken his map system too. He clicked some buttons to pull up the satellite photographs of the area. He could actually see a dot with the name 'Leon' next to it showing him somewhere… deep southwest from the village, which connected the two by a canyon and a warehouse in the middle.

"…in the canyons southwest of the village."

"…how did you end up there?" asked Hunnigan.

"It appears that they found me and took me here, where I was tied up with an ex-Madrid police officer by the name of Luis Sera."

There was another silent moment.

"Luis Sera? Madrid Police?" Hunnigan asked.

"Yes, though he's been suspended."

"Why?"

Leon didn't want to continue that conversation.

"Look, why was it you needed to call me for?"

Hunnigan sighed; "You need to make your way back to the village. Ashley might be there."

Leon sighed. "I figured as much. On my way."

With that, the connection went off.

Leon turned back to Guntar, who looked anxious.

"You don't need to stick with me. You just need to find a way off this island."

"No, _domn_!" said Guntar; "I'm staying with you! I'll feel safer that way, and I _won't _get in your way. I do not lie when I say I am a police officer. See?" Guntar then reached into his jacket and pulled out a wallet. Once it was out, he opened it and showed his driver's license. Leon looked carefully at what it had to say.

_He's police, alright. But where's his gun?_

Before he could ask, Leon noticed a gun strap hanging down from Guntar's shoulder, with a Berretta .347 holstered. As soon as Leon noticed it, he sighed a bit. He was relieved to see at least a good man survived.

"Well, then I guess you can come. But, mark my words: if you trail behind, you are on your own," Leon warned.

Guntar didn't look afraid or anything. He nodded in approval. "I shall not trail, _domn_. If I do, you may shoot me."

Leon shook his head. "I don't like wasting bullets."

Guntar sighed. "Well, after you sir."

Leon was startled by this. Suddenly, he remembered that he had to get moving. He looked out the door and on the road, and dreaded it. Up ahead was a pale road, covered still by weeds, dark trees, and pale skies. Up ahead, was the way to find Ashley. Up ahead, Leon feared he would meet that strange man from his dreams.

Leon looked to Guntar, who was ready, and then he looked at the road again. He retrieved his gun and holstered it. Then he took the shotgun, and was mildly surprised to see shotgun shells lying on the counter. Mildly was the coined phrase, since like magic, things might have appeared for good uses. He took those shells, loaded it up into the shotgun, cocked it, and then walked out the door.

* * *

If you have noticed some changes, bear with me, my good friends. I've gotten a good idea, and it shall tingle you when I put up inthe next chapter. Just have faith in me. ;) And thanks for the reviews; after the next chapter goes up, I'll reedit the previous chapters. :D 


	6. To the Valley of the Shadow of Death

As soon as the two had gone out, they checked their weapons to see if they were loaded enough to take on any adversary. Guntar, apparently, hadn't shot his, so he had all his ammunition. Leon had part of his, but he thought it was enough for him. Then he looked to his road again, the pale and misty path in shadow, and he sighed. He didn't know whether he was going to succeed this time.

_Good God, I wish Daniel was helping me._

Then forward they went. Carefully and looking everywhere with their guns held up, they made their way northward with the intent to return to that village... whether or not the villagers had returned, Leon did not want to press any more thoughts on. He also didn't want to suddenly come across a trap like he almost did at the front of the village; so he had his eyes peeled for anything on the ground which looked dissimilar to anything else.

Leon checked his mapping system to verify where he was supposed to go. On that pad he could see the dot with his name beside it moving slowly from where he was last, heading towards what appeared to be a canyon. Through satellite surveillance, it showed that many warehouses and huts were put in that canyon, making it look like a mining village all by itself. According to the visual, there were not any villagers in that canyon.

Guntar kept his pace with Leon's, never slowing down and maybe speeding up a bit. He had his Berretta .34 in his hands, with the safety lock off and his finger off the trigger. Leon noticed this as they were walking, and grinned to himself.

_He's smart, _Leon concluded. _Having your finger off the trigger without seeing any targets is very wise; that way you don't fire a useless round._

The terrain became a bit rocky after a while, and also went a bit downhill. Leon could see far ahead that their path went straight down and into a deep canyon, where within were many warehouses and huts. But it was not a pleasant sight; the many warehouses and huts were very old, there was a pale mist drifting through the apparent mining village, and more mist was lingering on the edges of the two cliff faces above, and hung there like spirits watching.

Guntar took one look at it and sighed. "Dun worry, _domn_. I've already been through there, and there are no villagers. I should know, because going through that place was as easy as cutting cake."

Leon, however, looked as though he doubted it. He had known what it was like to have the silence and quiet suddenly attacked by vicious zombies back in Raccoon City. He wasn't prepared for the other time where he was attacked by a mutated crocodile in the sewers of Raccoon City.

"Maybe," Leon said as he held the shotgun firmly in his hands; "but you never know how evil likes to reside in the quietest of places." And slowly he began making his way further downhill. Guntar behind him shivered, and said; "Well, there wasn't any resident evil there when I went through… but you know more than I do, so I'll keep my mouth shut."

Leon didn't look over his shoulder to the man as he carefully stepped around a rock poking out of the earth. "But I understand what you mean. I was as careless as you were when I was a rookie in the R.P.D., Raccoon Police Department, when the incident happened. There was this one time, where I was traveling underground in the sewers beneath the city. All of a sudden, I come along this stream, and I'm attacked… by a gigantic crocodile; I'm not lying or power phrasing. I mean I was attacked by a gigantic crocodile."

Guntar gasped behind Leon. "Good God! How did you survive?"

Leon scoffed. "I almost didn't. That is, if it weren't for that girl… Ada Wong."

"Who is this?"

"Another survivor I met in Raccoon City…" Leon halted. "Someone, I almost fell in love with."

Guntar from behind walked up to Leon to the side with curiosity. "Love? Oh my, that's wonderful! But, what happened?"

Leon sighed. "Well, I can't tell whether she was actually working for Umbrella, or not… but she vanished. I never saw her again." He carried on his walking, leaving Guntar to stand there surprised. Then the Spanish-Romanian driver picked up his speed and followed behind again.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Mr. Kennedy," Guntar said as he was picking up his speed. "Really, I am."

Leon shrugged. "Nothing more than maybe made up love. It probably wasn't real."

"When you talk about love, that's almost always real," Guntar said. "Even if you say it's not full love, there's still love in there."

Leon looked over his shoulder at Guntar, but just as he did he tripped on a twig and collapse on his chest, and then started rolling down the hill. Guntar suddenly reached out to grab him, but he missed by a hair. Cursing, Guntar started running down the hill to chase the rolling Leon. Without realizing it, they were coming closer to the canyon.

Leon rolled and rolled, bumping his body in every place and hurting a lot. Leon finally thrust his legs out when he was flat on his chest and his legs were facing downhill, and it managed to slow him down and lessen the impact of probably crashing to the ground and dying. Guntar was still chasing after the fallen ex-cop as they made their way to the canyon. All the while, Guntar was calling for Leon's name, and Leon was yelling in pain every time he rolled.

Finally, Leon's feet touched the bottom of the decline and he stopped almost entirely. Guntar came sprinting to the bottom and then a few feet away to carry the momentum of running. As he was trying to slow down, he looked in front of him to see a stone gate standing closed before him, sealing them out of the mining village.

Leon noticed this as he rolled onto his back, groaning and trying to regain full consciousness of having been going down the hill like a log downhill. At times he remembered trying to claw into the earth to stop the rolling, and he looked at his dirtied nails and groaned. His entire body was sore, and he feared he broke or split something.

Guntar rushed to his side in a frantic worry. "Oh! Mr. Kennedy! Are you alright!"

Leon groaned in reply. Then he twisted his neck to the side to then let out an issuing of bones cracking. Then he lifted his hands and twisted them, and their bones cracked. Then he arched his back to let out a louder bone crack than before, and then he groaned once again.

"No, I'm all pained," Leon managed to say through a groan.

Guntar was, however, happy and joyed. "Oh! Thank the Saints you are still alive! Nothing broken, I hope?"

"No, thank them… just a lot of sores."

"Lemme help you up, _domn_!" Guntar said as he grabbed an arm and pulled on it, and Leon groaned painfully.

"Now, when I said sore, I _meant it_!" gasped Leon.

Guntar was suddenly ashamed, "Oh! So sorry, Mr. Kennedy! Oh, how can I help?"

Leon sighed. "Well, just be a bit _softer_, please…"

Guntar nodded eagerly, and this time he lifted Leon to his feet softer than before. Leon gasped as he stood on his feet, since his knees were wobbly. Then he looked down at them, and then he suddenly looked up and stretched his back; more bone crackings issued, from his back, to his hips, to his thighs, and to his knees.

Once that was done with, he looked down and sighed in relief. "Now, I'm back."

Guntar was relieved and smiled happily; "Oh, good!" Guntar looked uphill and noticed Leon's shotgun had been dropped there. "Oh! Lemme fetch your weapon!" and like serf he suddenly climbed uphill to grab Leon's shotgun.

Leon looked down at his holster and was relieved to see that his handgun was still there. He pulled it out and aimed at the door, and was even more relieved to see that nothing was damaged a bit. He then scoffed.

_What a fool I am; nothing could hurt this baby._

At that moment, a wind breezed through that canyon, carrying the smell of rock and ore and gunpowder drifting from the canyon within. It came to Leon's nose and he smelt it. Then he looked at the canyon walls to see the mist still lingering at their edges. They looked disturbing, and he almost shivered at the sight of them.

Guntar came back with the shotgun and held it out with the nozzle facing him. Leon glanced at it and then carefully held it up to see if it was damaged. Then remembering what he thought to himself again, he slapped the side of his head— and then suddenly groaned. His body's strength had returned, though it was still a bit sore, but his head hurt the most.

"Hey, are you alright?" Guntar worried as he looked at Leon's head.

Leon sighed as he stated massaging his temples. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just have a headache, is all."

Guntar didn't look as though his question was answered, but he shrugged and it let pass. Leon, on the other hand, looked to that gate: what lay beyond that was through Silence... and then to the Village.

Holding the shotgun in his hands, Leon slowly pressed the palm of his hand against the steel gate door and opened it. There, like a great decay, the entire mining village lay dormant in that dark canyon. Doors were laid open with hinges creaking from age, an echo of distant winds lurked in between the huts and warehouses, and crosswalks led from one platform to another, all connected to the walls of the dark canyon. It felt like being around a dead body, though the size of this one was greater in comparison to anything else.

Leon led Guntar through the gate, and soon they found themselves standing on the edge of a cliff with a fall of no ending. Next to that cliff was a platform with a great warehouse on it. Leon and Guntar crept towards it and then along the sides. They looked through its windows, only to see darkness.

They made their way towards the center of the canyon, where on a pedestal of rock stood a single hut. But they took their time, even though they told themselves no one was around. It was that feeling of being watched, however, that kept them walking slowly. The only thing they thought was watching them was the mists above the canyon walls. Guntar pointed his gun at them as soon as he heard rock crumble, and then he looked away as he discovered nothing but that mist.

Leon kept his eyes upon going forward most of the tome, although occasionally he looked over his shoulder to see Guntar traveling behind him; and to look into the windows of huts passing by in case there was anything in them.

But he still, no matter how many times they would have told themselves 'no one is around', they felt watched all the same. Most of it was drawn towards the mists, as though they had something to hide. Guntar still looked at them, as though he didn't trust them.

The floorboards creaked underneath their feet, and that also caused them to try and be slow. But even if they were slow, they couldn't avoid the sound. And they felt that they couldn't go back.

Finally they were about to cross the catwalk that would eventually lead them to the center hut. But Leon felt uncomfortable about the look of it. He contemplated whether it would support both his and Guntar's weight whole. To test this, he raised a hand over his shoulder and stopped Guntar. He was slightly confused with the ex-cop's actions, but one look at the catwalk and he doubted it too.

Without saying a word, Leon looked at Guntar, and he nodded. He faced the catwalk again, and began making his way. As soon as his first foot touched the catwalk, a sudden disturbance of the silence came from directly in front of him. Immediately he stepped back and raised his shotgun. But there was nothing there; not even the sound. It didn't echo or anything at all. Leon worried if it was just him. He looked at Guntar, who shrugged in reply. Then the ex-R.P.D. cop shook his head and he began crossing the catwalk again. This time, nothing was distracting him.

Leon carefully made it to the other side and then smiled. He looked back at Guntar who sighed in relief, and then he started to make his way as well. And it was then that Leon noticed the door slowly opening behind the Spanish-Romanian driver.

As soon as Guntar's foot touched the catwalk, Leon pulled out his handgun with a free arm and aimed it in Guntar's direction— and pull the trigger.

"No!" he cried; but as soon as the gun fired, Guntar quaked and stood still, expecting a bullet through his chest. But no… instead, he heard a shriek behind him. Then, as Guntar turned around, the body of a man crashed before his feet.

It was a villager.

"Holy!" cried Guntar.

Suddenly, Leon heard the sound again behind him. But it was intensified, and this time, a series of noises followed with it. As soon as he turned his head, the door to the hut crashed open, and a chainsaw came roaring for his neck.

_BANG!_

Guntar had his Berretta .34 equipped and had shot a round that just missed Leon's ear towards the chainsaw villager's shoulder. It managed to knock him back a bit, but the chainsaw was still coming for the Government agent. Yet Leon was not going to idly let this happen to him; he was already backing away and aiming his shotgun at the monster; once the round had caught the monster in the chest, Leon pulled the trigger of his shotgun at the beast. It caught it straight in the chest, and sent it plummeting through the hut's door.

"Good Lord! Is this invasion!" Guntar cried.

Leon looked back at Guntar, and found that he was right. Villagers started coming out of the huts thought empty, swarming them by the hundreds. All of them had weapons, ready and more. All of the villagers were making their way towards the two men. Soon, the canyon would be filled with them all.

Leon heard the chainsaw behind him again, and saw that the monster was already making its way back on its feet. So Leon jumped towards Guntar, hoping he would not fall into the canyon instead, and his feet landed firmly on the platform.

"This is invasion alright; we've gotta get out of here!" Leon said. He turned around to see that the monster was on its way to cross the catwalk. But Leon had a good plan in mind, as soon as he remembered how weak the catwalk was. Guntar looked in awe, for as the monster was coming across the catwalk, Leon shot his shotgun at the catwalk and the thing collapse; the chainsaw monster plummeted into the darkness beyond.

With that out of the way, Leon and Guntar now had to focus on the growing evil that was steadily walking towards them on the platform. They couldn't go through the mining village, now with the way gone due to the defense against the chainsaw monster. Now, they had to go back the way the came; the way that was now being crowded with raving lunatic villagers.

"What now!" Guntar gasped as he held his Berretta up.

Leon knew what he had to do. It was not going to be pretty, but he at least had the power to do it.

He raised his shotgun, and with one pull of the trigger, he took down three villagers.

"Let's get going!" he ordered; he fired again and cleared three more villagers— out of a hundred.

Guntar was surprised by this, but as soon as he saw one of those villagers glaring at him and raising his axe threateningly, the Spanish-Romanian driver held up his weapon and fired.

If anyone was standing at the top of the hill that stood at the front of the back entrance into the canyon, and their ears were keen to listen, they would hear the sounds of thunder rumbling in the canyon. And that was the battle going on in that shadowy canyon.

Leon kept clearing the way with shotgun bullets, shooting down three (and sometimes even 4) villagers at a time, with Guntar (an exceptional gunman) slowing down four or five villagers and then pelting them in the head with the butt of his gun. They didn't notice, but thanks to their efforts, they were almost at the entrance.

"We're almost there!" Guntar cried; but just as he shot a round at the leg of a villager, and he raised his weapon to smack him in the head, a mad woman with a _sword _in her hands came and swung at Guntar.

Now, while Leon was shooting down another threesome of villagers charging him, out among them he could see a difference. While all the villagers wore the same beat up clothing and also the same deadness in their eyes, he saw something behind them all, cloaked from head to toe, and watching the battle. It made Leon stare for a few moments, but as soon as he saw a villager a foot away and already swinging an axe at him, Leon reacted with haste.

And at this moment, the sword swung at Guntar. Yet the mad woman slammed the door open just as she began to charge the Spanish-Romanian, and he saw just in time that the sword was meant to cut off his head. But when he ducked, he couldn't bring his hand away from being hurt; he didn't get it cut off, but the sword did give him something to remember: and to cause the gun to fall from his hands.

He grasped it just as he landed, cursing in agony— then the villager he shot in the leg stood on one knee over him and swung his axe down to dig into Guntar's chest.

Leon heard Guntar's curses in agony, and as soon as he saw the axe villager, he came and slammed the butt end of his shotgun into the back of the villager's skull, and the fell man collapsed on Guntar with a shattered skull. Guntar panicked and pushed the body away from him as he tried reaching for his Berretta with his unharmed hand; a villager from afar had chosen him as his target and was already charging.

Leon was then suddenly greeted by sword woman, who swung her sword at him this time. But using his shotgun, he held it vertical and stopped the incoming sword attack. Leon then took the opportunity and brought the shotgun into the woman's ribcage; a few cracks issued, and it caused her to bend down. He then brought the butt end of his weapon again up and then slammed it into the woman's face. Her nose broke, her jaw broke, and even her skull broke. Blood spewed out from both nasal entrances as her head was thrown back and her body collapsed.

Leon came around again just in time to see the villagers closing in them again. He brought his weapon about, and he pulled the trigger.

Sadly, he heard nothing but _click. _But this couldn't be! Leon pulled it again, and got the same answer: _click, click._ It didn't stop the villagers, apparently; they were still coming after the two men. Suddenly, another villager leapt at Leon, thrusting his pike at him. The American managed to dodge the pike in time, but the impact of being nearly landed upon caused him to collapse, with the villager on top of him. Then, as the villager sat up and raised his weapon, Leon reached out and suddenly twisted the villager's head and killed him. The dead villager then collapsed on him.

Then both Guntar and Leon, both held to the ground by the dead, stared as the crowd began to charge them. Fearing to see their deaths in front of their eyes, unable to move, they closed their eyes to let them take their lives, fearing that there was no more hope for them.

They waited for the fell strike to come upon them. But as they waited, they could hear nothing. The sounds of the voices of the mad villagers were suddenly gone, almost as though at the moment when the two men suddenly wished for the villagers to go away. Resorting to their ears for their last moments, they could hear nothing but the winds in the canyon.

At long last, Leon and Guntar opened their eyes, and they saw nothing but empty space. Disbelieving their eyes, they looked to what was lying on top of them, and saw old wooden doors, as heavy as a human body. There was no evidence that any villager was there at all.

Leon looked at Guntar, who suddenly pushed his door off of him and let it fall into the canyon chasm. He looked at his arm to see that the cut was still there on his arm— and it was a nasty cut.

Leon hurried himself from under the door and helped Guntar to his feet, careful not to pull him by the wounded arm. The Spanish-Romanian gradually thanked him once he was on his feet, and then stood to stare at everything.

"Where is everyone?" Guntar asked as he looked around, nursing his injured hand. "It's like they vanished!"

"Like ghosts," Leon whispered. "But… how is that possible?"

Guntar pointed to the north; "Look!" Leon turned and saw that their way across the canyon was destroyed by his efforts to defeat a monster. He looked to the walls of the canyon to see if they could travel through their catwalks, but he did not see any.

"Dammit!" Leon cursed. "There's no way out of here!"

Guntar raised a weary hand and pointed it at Leon's mapping device. "What does your map say?"

Leon grabbed it from its place on his hip and flicked it on. After a few buttons were pushed, satellite surveillance came on the device.

"What do you see?" asked Guntar.

"Well… if only I didn't have to shoot our only way through this canyon, we would have been back at the village in a jiffy. So now this is no way… but wait: here's another way."

"What is it? I don't care if it leads us into a bog, I can still fight!"

Leon was silent a moment.

"What is it?"

"Well…" started Leon; "from where you found me and that man Luis, there goes another path to the east, which eventually leads through a few passes in the mountains, and then… to the lake."

"Ah! That shouldn't prove to be any difficult! Now, let's just hope they have a boat," Guntar said in exclamation.

"Guntar, I don't think we should be so quick on this decision," Leon said; "Luis said there was something wrong with the lake. Now, I may have _just _met him, but…" then he remembered Luis talking about having the T-virus in his lab, and Leon couldn't believe that. Then he wondered, if it was just he didn't _want to_ believe it.

"But what?" Guntar asked.

Leon looked at the map again, seeing that the path from the cabin he awoke it curved through a mountain pass and then went downhill, and then northwest of the path going on was a great lake. It was great and vast, though even from satellite there was something about it that seemed… illusive.

Leon turned off his mapping system. "Nothing. Let's get going."

Then just as he was ready to go, he remembered Guntar's hand. He winced once he saw it; the Spanish-Romanian's forearm was, indeed, cut by a blade. Blood was steadily coming out of that wound, and it looked painful to bear.

"Let's find something to heal that, shall we?" Leon said; "before we go on, that is."

Guntar nodded. "_Si, domn. _Let's look around, shall we?"

With that, they looked in the houses to find something to heal Guntar's wounds. After scouring the first house, Leon discovered some cloth to tie around Guntar's forearm to stop the bleeding. And surprisingly enough, he also discovered a plant growing outside the front door of the hut he found the bandages. He knew it awfully well, and was surprised to see it growing in these parts. It was a cherry red plant, not poisonous, but healthy. Leon had used it before after the incident of Raccoon City, and learned that it was good for tea, and also for cleaning wounds.

He broke a leaf off its stem, and slowly a small liquid began to ooze out. Leon held the cloth-piece under it and then slowly he wrapped it around Guntar's forearm; he twitched in response to it, sincethe substanceimmediately attacked the bacteria that was in the wound. Guntar's feet kicked the ground until the pain settled, and then he was calm.

Suddenly, they heard a cry outside. Leon grabbed the shotgun and poked his head outside. Nothing. But where did it come from? He looked up, and against the pale sky he saw the silhouette of a heron flying across the canyon. Leon had seen that bird before, in Raccoon City. But how did it come to here?

Guntar had his Beretta .34 in his unharmedhand and poked his head out the door too, and was too late to see the heron flying away. He looked confused.

"Whatwas it?" he asked.

Leon shrugged as he stepped outside. "Good luck's on the way." he looked at Guntar. "Come, let us get to the lake."


	7. Stranger in a Stranger Land

_Creeecowwwwakkk_

Just then, Leon's radio transmitter buzzed against his thigh. With a flash of his hand, it was in the palm of his hand.

"_Leon, how's everything going?"_ Ingrid spoke on the other end.

"Not so great. I just survived another horrendous villager attack."

"_How'd you escape?"_

"That I have no idea. One minute, me and my friend here are about to be hacked apart. But as soon as we open are eyes again, they're gone."

"_Hmm, that's out of the ordinary."_

"To say in the least, Ms. Hunnigan," Leon said; "our easy route to the village has been destroyed due to a villager I had to get rid of."

"_Is that right? Well, what else can you do?"_

"There's a lake in the east that I can get to from here; across it is the church Ashley's supposed to be locked in. I'll have to go through a small mountain pass, which might be dangerous."

"_Well, call me when you're got an update."_

Leon nodded and then he was motioning to put the transmitter back where it was when Ingrid spoke again. _"By the way, you said you had a friend with you? Is it Luis Sera?"_

Leon lifted it back to his face. "No, it's one of my drivers. He managed to escape before they got the other one."

"_Give your friend my condolences,"_ Ingrid said.

Leon looked at Guntar who had no clue or idea what he was talking about, and then he nodded. "I'll do that, and I think he'll like that. I'll keep you in contact." Then the transmission went dead.

Guntar eyed Leon. "What was that, _domn_?"

"Oh, some lady in the U.S. She gives her regards to Arcano."

Guntar slightly frowned. "Well, she don't need to, but I thank her all the same." Then he began checking his Beretta and winced. "There ain't enough bullets in this baby to handle any more villagers; I'm almost out."

Leon grimaced when he looked at his stock; he was running out of ammunition too. He dreaded there was no other way for him to find any ammo in this devil-like place. If there was, then that could not have been right. These villagers resorted to axes and scythes, and not guns. Well, they _did _resort to chainsaws, but seeing the same 'thing' twice could not have been possible. Now, Leon has killed that 'thing' more than possible.

"Dammit!" he cursed; "this whole thing is starting to sound as crazy as the Supreme Court!"

Guntar sighed. "I don't get it either. Now is the time I wish this all _was _a dream. I can't help but feel trapped inside myself… I really feel like hiding."

Leon couldn't help but pat the man on the shoulder. "I know that feeling too. It's fear residing in you. I have that fear almost all the time, I'm afraid. It lurks in me from memory and childish horrors, remaining dormant inside me as though it's awakening would be the end of me. I can't tell whether I _did _escape Raccoon City or not. Whatever resided in it before the bomb could very well be inside me. I can't tell at all; I just know it's a residing evil."

Guntar looked at Leon, cautiously. "You fight it?"

"I try. But every time I do, I see them again. It's like…. Well, it's rather proverbial to say 'like' when I could say 'the same as'… At night when I can't sleep, I can still see their horrid faces, gaping at me almost longingly. They're not real, except in my mind's eye."

Whether by his words alone or not that helped him see better, behind the gate he could see movement from a silhouette. He kept a steadier gaze upon this, and he was sure someone was watching them.

Leon pulled back the hammer on his pistol and made his way back to the gate, leaving Guntar to follow behind in confused caution. They made their way back to the gate but stopped just when they were facing the iron doors. They stood there, just waiting.

Then they heard a voice form the other side speak to them; "Come on, stranger! I know you're there."

Leon blinked. "Who's over _there_?"

"Me, stranger."

"Who's 'me', I wonder. One of 'them', or an individual?" Guntar curiously spoke.

"Oh, smart mouth you got, _domn_." The voice seemed to have no distinct accent. Sometimes it changed from one dialect to another, shifting different persons in the two men's minds.

Leon planted his shoulder against the side of the iron door, and carefully with one hand he slowly pushed using the butt end of the shotgun. With the other hand, he had his pistol held just up to his face.

The gate opened, and suddenly Leon jumped forward and pointed both of his weapons forward. Where he pointed at stood a tall cloaked man, covered from head to toe by a black cover. His hood revealed no face, for a cloth was placed across the man's face; and only his eyes could be seen. Deep set eyes that held much mystery. He had a nice brown belt around his waist, with a brass belt buckle on the front.

Guntar was behind him, doing the same. But once he saw the stranger, he could only blink and stare. Leon, however, kept his defense up.

The stranger looked at the two of them like they were toy soldiers, and he chuckled. "Heh, you two seem a bit antsy. I suspect your welcome was… alright?"

Leon winced. "You call what happened just now a 'welcome'?"

The stranger folded his arms. "Well, compared to what _I _have seen, these are just an upgrade. But I can see why you're so upset, stranger. You're looking for the President's daughter, correct?"

Leon couldn't tell whether anything was safe; and because of that he grew a bit angry. "God, does everyone have to know anything these days?"

"Depends on what they need to know, stranger," the cloaked man said. "Governmental or social. But that's for the real world to handle right now; for here, you got something else to handle. And it's not going to be simple, stranger. You might need some more power, heh…"

Then with that, he unfolded his arms and unbuckled his belt; then with a swing of his arm his cloak opened. And behold, the man was covered in weapons, ammunition, herbs, and grenades! He had guns holstered in many different places, he had ammunition stuffed in small bags hanging from little hooks all over him, herbs were in special places on his legs, and he had grenades hanging from his shoulders. If Leon could put what he saw in simple words, he could say the man was stuffed with fun.

Guntar could not believe his eyes, and neither could Leon. All that weaponry, and Leon could create a lot of damage. It almost lulled him to move closer and examine the weaponry. But then there was the man who wore them, and that brought him back to the present.

"Do you like?" the man said.

Leon looked at the weapons again and then back to the stranger. But then he realized that he was at a loss of words. He looked at Guntar to see him staring in awe.

"Well, I can see you like, then." The man said with a chuckle.

Finally, Leon found out what he could say. "Well… do you have anything for a .45 USP Tactical, a Beretta .34 and this here shotgun? We're pretty low on ammunition."

"I know, my good sirs," said the man; "I could tell form your faces when you checked your ammo. But fear not; the Merchant is here to make things all better for you."

"Do we have to pay?" Guntar asked, and then suddenly he bit his tongue. Leon blinked in surprise to notice he hadn't thought of the cost.

"Yes, you bloody well do!" the merchant said. "Or else I'll take my business elsewhere. Do you have anything _pesetas_?"

Leon grimaced; he had nothing of the sort. But then Guntar stepped up and presented a medium sized bag that was clinking. Leon was incredibly surprised. Of course, over the cloth on his face, the merchant's eyes blazed with greed.

"Oooooh," the merchant 'ooed'; "that… is sufficient enough. Of course, if you could be so kind as to let me count…" the stranger held his hands up like a beggar.

Guntar eyed him, and then he looked at Leon as though not assure. Leon nodded to confirm. Then Guntar placed the bag in the merchant's hands, fearing he would just take off with it. But no, that wasn't so. The merchant spilled hundreds of gold nuggets onto his hand, his eyes sparkling like the nuggets themselves, and then carefully he counted. After a while of him counting in various languages (Japanese, Spanish, Russian, German, Spanish, Portuguese and etc.), he placed the nuggets in the bag again and then stuck it somewhere underneath his cloak. Then, he pulled out seven different ammunition boxes and bags to carry them. He placed the ammunition in different bags for the different weapons, and amazed both Guntar and Leon.

"Heh, a mighty find you had there, stranger," said the merchant; "here is your reward for helping a man like me got off with enough cash to keep me company." Then he quickly moved his hands and closed his cloak with a 'click' of his belt buckle. Then he slightly bowed. "Now, you must go get that girl. She won't like waiting for you, I think." The winds began rustling harshly, with the dirt flying and weeds dancing. Leon looked at it as though it precariously had dark tidings. And then the merchant had vanished.

It made them step away from the bags of ammunition once they realized the merchant had gone. But soon, Leon shook the feeling of dread off his back and checked the bags to see which had his ammunition. In one bag was ammunition for a different brand of a shotgun; something more police-like but the kind Leon had seen before: in Raccoon City. It was an RPD Force Shotgun, the likes of which Leon used in Raccoon City before and enjoyed to use. To see it brought a marvel upon his eyes.

Leon compared it with the shotgun he had, and knew which was best; the RPD Force Shotgun had more propulsion and had sate-of-the-art armor piercing bullets (according to the label on the side of the bullet packs). He discarded the shotgun, throwing away the memories of facing those people in the village. Then he placed in several bullets into his new weapon, and then cocked it with a snap. Guntar, while he himself was gathering bullets, jolted in surprise. And then he looked at the gun in surprise.

"Where in the world would a character like him have gotten that?" asked Guntar. "I would doubt he could have the ability to possess that kind of weapon."

Leon propped it against his shoulder, looking at it for a moment before looking back at the Spanish-Romanian. "Don't ask me. I can only hope these aren't defective."

Guntar slipped his Beretta into its holster, and stood. "At least we'll find out sooner or later, _domn_. But I still can't help but worry if that guy is gonna be caught by those villagers?"

"You care about him? What if he was working… for this Saddler?"

"That is why I'd pity him for wondering alone. Maybe the next time we see him, we could get some information out of him before he storms off like he did just now. Who knows, maybe the Commander-in-Chief sent him. If not, at least we'll ask him."

The thought was pleasant, but was it possible? What if Leon never saw him again? Come to think of it, he wondered if he knew those eyes underneath that cloak. Had he seem them before? Were they something he saw in a dream, or the past?

Leon looked at the hill above him. "But that shouldn't be our worry for now. Let's just hope we can get to the lake."


	8. Flight to the Lake

I know; seems like a long time since I ever did anything. Well, trust me; this is a good one. ;)

* * *

Leon and Guntar left that dreaded valley, with their newly founded weapons equipped and ready. They climbed up the hill again, once on top gazing out at the lands stretching around them. Behind them, they could see the great chasm stretch for miles under the mist before it ended. At the end, Leon knew the village was resting there.

Then turning to the east, he saw great mountains rising. From where he stood, a great long path curved downwards and then took a flat travel before uprising into those mountains into a dark passageway. Mists and fogs hung over those tall and menacing mountains, looking like grave sentinels waiting for them to come.

"So, there they are," Guntar uttered aloud; "what might these… people call those mountains?"

"I wouldn't know in the least, but in this situation would you _want _to know?" asked Leon.

Guntar shrugged; "Blood Mountain."

Leon sighed. "Let's just focus on getting there, and _nothing _else."

Guntar remained quiet for that journey, and Leon couldn't be happier; if they attracted any trouble, they were done for. Whether it was more of those villagers or some new evil, they couldn't afford another attack

They went down the hill and onto that flat plain that seemed to go on for miles, with nothing but trees and marshes around them. The air was thick and cold with the smell of rotten wood— and decay. There was also an accumulating of flies and insects with wings in the area. Some were mosquitoes; others… well, weren't. Leon and Guntar didn't care much; they only had walking to do.

Then it was at least an hour they were walking before Leon realized Guntar looked uncomfortable; as though he were sick. Guntar tried to not let him notice, but he felt he couldn't hold it forever.

"Are you alright?" Leon asked.

"I… I need…" Guntar grunted; he seemed to be grabbing his bowels.

Leon finally understood. He pointed to the side of the road were there were many bushes lying about. "Go right ahead."

Guntar couldn't have been more thankful; he rushed immediately into those bushes, opened his pants and let loose his liquid wastes. He let out a huge sigh of relief, though it was suddenly garbled by teeth clattering.

"It's freezing!" he gasped as he neared to finish.

Leon couldn't help but shiver as well; it grew exceedingly cold for some reason. It came right down to the soles of his feet, and his teeth began chattering. He couldn't help but look at the shadows of the trees at the side of the road, half expecting something or wanting to see beyond them.

Finally, Guntar finished his business. Yet just as he was coming back to Leon's side, he looked at the trees distractedly, halting immediately to gaze deeper into the hazes there. Leon noticed him doing so, and he too looked at the trees.

Nothing.

"Hmm, must be my imagination," Guntar said, shaking the feeling off and returning to Leon's side.

"What was it?" Leon asked.

"I thought I heard something in the trees," Guntar said, cautiously; "but it must have only been the birds."

But Leon heard nothing but the echoes of wind coming from the mountains.

Accompanied by the sound of howling.

"Wolves!" gasped Guntar, flashing his gun about. "Who would have thought it? Now we're being chased by predators!"

Leon groaned; the sound of howling reminded him of the infected dogs of Raccoon City. He could only want to start running.

More howling issued, echoing hauntingly and sounding as though they were coming closer.

"Quick, Master Kennedy!" gasped Guntar; "we must reach the mountains!"

Leon had no second thought; he immediately began running with Guntar trailing behind him: and the howling of wolves as well.

But they didn't seem to be getting softer; they only increased as the two men gained a mile. And worse, they were becoming tired. But they couldn't give up; not now. They had to reach the mountains!

Finally, they had passed the marshes and were now coming across even rockier places. To their relief, the mountains were almost right above them. They only had to climb up the passes. They could tell the wolves were behind them; they at least sounding as though chasing after them as opposed to being in front of them.

However, they were disrupted.

"Leon! I see something moving above in the passes!" cried Guntar.

Oh no; Villagers?

"Oh great! Could there be wolves too in those goddamn mountains!" cursed Leon.

Guntar looked behind him, hoping to see at least something behind him. As Leon looked, he saw the same: nothing.

But, there wasn't nothing. There was mist, and that was plain…

…and then they saw Them at last. Red dots blinked and dark figures darkly appeared. The howls were becoming louder.

"Oh God!" gasped Guntar. "They're really there!"

Suddenly, the forms began running towards them.

Leon grabbed Guntar by the arm and pulled him towards the upcoming pass. "Come now! We have to get up there!"

Guntar almost trailed his feet, except he decided to finally run after another howl came from the incoming figures. His eyes were caught between the figures behind them and the passes in front of them. But by Leon's grasp on his arm, his choose to not look back; Leon didn't, and he was succeeding, so far.

The grounding slowly turned up, finally going up into the mountains through a dark pass. The mountain walls were covered in pure rock, with great roots sticking out and making hideous figures, bent and curled like twisted old bones.

"There! We're here at last!" cried Leon. He finally took a look behind him, seeing the advancing forces yards behind them.

But just as they were already beginning to climb, they heard the soft sound of thunder, and the ground began shaking like an earthquake. Leon almost lost his footing it was so big, but he kept on his feet. He and Guntar chose to not stop running.

But as soon as they actually looked up, they saw the reason for this sudden earthquake. A great boulder was rolling down the passes!

"Oh God! What in the world—" Guntar cried, but was suddenly cut off when the sound of snarling came behind the two men; just as they turned, a wolf was jumping through the air for Leon's throat.

He raised his shotgun in time, but didn't pullthe triggerin time; the Wolf crashed onto him, its teeth hitting the shotgun instead of the man's throat. Its paws scrapped the air searching for Leon's head, and then when it was on its feet it aimed for his feet.

POW! Guntar had his gun up, and he shot the brains of the hound out just in time.

The sound of the boulder was getting mighty powerful; they would be crushed in a mere instant soon!

But Leon was swift, and he grabbed Guntar just in time and threw both of them off the road just in time for the boulder to come down— on the wolves instead. The air was responded with cut off yelps and the sound of bones and organs crushing. Blood replaced the ground the wolves were crushed on, along with sags of fur and skin. And then finally, the boulder crashed off the road and broke once it crashed. Then there was silence, save the sound of wind.

But the two men lying on the side of the road were gasping for breath, excited, scared but also fatigued greatly. Guntar landed foully on his injured hand, so he was gasping in pain as well.

"Oh! Did you have to do that so suddenly!" Guntar cried.

"If you didn't want to lose your head," Leon replied, smartly.

"Then it wasn't the only thing I would lose," said Guntar; "for that, I'm grateful. So I'll forgive you."

Leon shrugged; "Anytime."

Soon they calmed down, and Guntar felt he was able to sustain the agonizing pain in his arm. With that, they looked up the mountain pass, gravely and doubtfully. But Leon didn't seem to care; he moved off the path and motioned towards it. Guntar staggered behind, ready for anything.

The passes were very bare, and the only problem they had with traversing them were the untrustworthy sounds the passes gave off. Echoes and hissings of winds caught in between cracks in the mountain walls. There was also that unpleasant feeling of being watched or studied by the rocks in the walls. But Leon felt it was more than that.

They were traveling upwards for perhaps twenty minutes before it leveled; and they walked on for ten or so minutes and came across a grand sight. Down the passes from where they were, several miles ahead, was a large lake; big enough to hold a single whale or so, according to Leon.

"There it is!" gasped Guntar. "The lake!"

Leon felt relieved to have finally seen it; that they were almost there: closer to finding Ashley. But, was it going to be worth it?

'_When I came to the lake, I scoped from afar and saw that the villagers were dumping their bodies in the lake. I dunno, amigo… that lake doesn't look very nice,' _said Luis Sera back in that cabin. Leon couldn't forget those words.

And what caused the boulder to start tumbling? It couldn't have been natural.

Suddenly, he could hear voices somewhere at the side.

"Villagers!" gasped Guntar, pointing to the other side of a great gap that was alongside path down the mountain towards the lake. And unquestionably, there were several men cloaked by the shade and shadows of the trees, suddenly running into the direction of the lake.

Guntar and Leon raised their weapons and open fired. But they missed; the shadow of the trees was too hard to penetrate with their sights. The villagers vanished.

"Damn!" cursed Leon.

"Now they're going to inform their little friends…"

Then Leon looked down the path. It wasn't too far; at least, at the moment Leon was thinking rather hastily and eager to get everything done so quickly.

"Not if we get to the lake first!" he said. Unexpectedly he sped off like a bullet down the road, almost leaving Guntar to trail behind.

They passed down the mountainside at last, leaving the wind echoes and the chills of the cold rock. Though they were not out from rocky country.

After several minutes had passed, the sight of a small village appeared out of the blue at the end of the road, before they would traverse over swampy territory. The two men almost stopped at first sight of the village, and their weapons were suddenly exposed again.

But, the village looked completely dead. Nothing moved in that village, although it looked as though concealing something within. The village was surrounded by a large wooden fence rimmed with metal spikes; and as they drew closer, they came to the back gate. All of it was wooden much like the great rimmed fence, though on this gate was a black insignia shaped like a morning star with a spider as the ball of spikes on top. It was a vile and twisted insignia, sending the feeling of curling pain inside the heart.

Leon came rather harshly against it at first, and then he thrust his body against it, and the gate busted open with immense sounds of sticky hinges and bending wood. It looked apparently old, or at least it was unaccustomed to such a rash opening. Then it stood open, creaking still. The sound of winds was all that came, then.

Slowly, the two men entered the haunted village. Whether it was haunted or no, an unwelcomed feeling came over the two men as they looked at the vacant huts and houses. The earth was barren rock, carved and smoothed. Several trees inhabited the place, but no more than four or five.

They moved to the centre of the village, and on the other side from where they came was the front gate. They made way to it, but something distracted them to the western side of the village. A tall mountain wall stood there, yet at its foot was a large, strong wooden gate. Locks kept it closed, and a bar kept it sealed. But from within there was a great roaring. The sound of a tiger but more terrifying, deep like crumbling earth was more akin to this roar.

The two men shook on their feet at the sound of it. They wielded their weapons and pointed them to the great western gate quite nervously.

"What was that, _domn_?" Guntar asked nervously.

Another roar came from within; both men moved slowly away from it.

"A roar!" Leon said quite roughly; "why, you thought it was a siren!"

Guntar gulped; "No more than that."

Both men looked at the front gate, quite nervously. And without questioning, they slowly made their way towards it.

Then there came a great hammering upon the western gate from within; something with tremendous strength that caused the gate to nearly bust open. But it refused to do so.

"Let's get out of here, _domn_! I wouldn't like to be around when the door breaks open!" cried Guntar.

Leon had already dashed towards the front gate when Guntar had said this; he motioned to bust it open again, but thinking about what was lurking in the cave behind the door, he decided to do this more carefully. Finding the lock, he busted it with the butt end of his shotgun, and then slowly opened the creaking gate. Down the path was more mist, and swampy territory.

"Come on!" cried Leon, and then both men sped off down the road, hearing the tremendous roarings of the beast behind the door.


	9. Del Lago

Both men trampled down that road eagerly to get away from that deserted village. But hearing that roar, they didn't think it deserted anymore. They went on hastily down the road; and into a swamp.

The air was perfumed by burning firewood somewhere, but was choked out by the overwhelming smell of dirt and waste. Dank pools dotted the way on the path cutting through the swamp. And then it came to a bridge crossing a small river that lay still as though something clogged it at the front. Leon and Guntar made it carefully across, though they were disgruntled by the sound of crows hawking in the distance.

Guntar's foot slipped, and it sunk into a deep mud puddle. Leon looked back and laughed, while the Spanish-Romanian looked disgustedly at his muddy foot.

They traveled on for a longer while, careful not to tread onto some dark and disgusting bog that seemed to travel alongside their road. The swamp surrounding them seemed quiet, except for the occasional chirping of an insect somewhere in the water. And the breathing upon each other's backs was heard, and the footsteps across the wooden bridge.

At last it seemed like forever before they crossed it, and then made their way away from the swamp as much as possible.

As they were fleeing into the wilderness away from the swamp, they suddenly smelt something reeking in the distance. And in good time of traveling, the smell came from the side of the road. Leon knew that smell; it was the smell of decaying flesh.

He halted Guntar for a moment, and he held up his shotgun, and he traversed the bushes at the side and moved past many trees, and then came upon a strange sight. A mound of dirt was piled in a small meadow, shaped like that of a grave covering a body. The smell was coming from it, because it was crudely buried and done so in great haste.

Guntar was looking at it from behind Leon. "Someone had the decency at least to cover up their nasty work, I gather."

Leon nodded, but then he realized something his friend didn't; a small flower resting upon the center of the grave. White petals were laid all around it, as if in mourning.

"This evil cannot go on forever," Leon said.

After a while of walking through wilderness covering their path, they came to a fork on the road. A sign was posted in front of the fork, but it was unlike any Leon had seen in his time. A pale skull hung from the top of it, and a ribcage held the boards showing the directions, with bloodied hair hanging off of them. It made both men sick, but they read the directions bravely.

_Lookout_

>_The Lake_

"Which way, _domn_?" asked Guntar.

Heeding the words that Luis Sera gave him, Leon motioned to go left. "If we go left, we can at least see where we are going."

Guntar seemed to agree.

They climbed uphill, passing a woodpile left abandoned by the looks of it. A small cliff face stood on the left hand side as they climbed up, and open space on their right. They saw that the path on the right of the fork steadily moved on down towards the lake, leading to a cabin and a small dock.

Finally they came to a precipice with a somewhat low fall, at least to Leon's standard. Straight below them was cliff face, and then downwards to water. It was large enough to have a good dive and then carry onto a good swim. Though the water looked troubling.

Then they knelt down on their knees for cover, in case they were to be seen by 'something'. Guntar kept his eyes behind him with his Beretta wielded and ready. Leon pulled up his binoculars from his utility belt, and gazed through them:

The lake was quiet. Nothing seemed to disturb that lake; it was flat, and it did not move too much. No wind made ripples, according to Leon's sight of vision. If anything could disturb that lake, it didn't seem to work. It seemed peaceful.

But there was still something uncomfortable about. Just like Luis said, there was still something unordinary about it; it might have been the fact it looked completely still. The water didn't look like it was alone; and not only fish could have swum that. It was dirty, but not just because of dirt.

"What do you see, _domn_?" Guntar asked curiously.

"Nothing. The lake is there; there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it. But… what Luis said…"

"What did he say?"

Just then, they were disrupted by the sound of hustling through bushes. They immediately turned around and looked behind them with their guns up. But, they could see nothing.

"I don't know about you, _domn_, but that wasn't my imagination!" Guntar warned.

Leon didn't like this at all. Were they being followed?

_flip… flip… Flip… FLip…FLip… FLIp…_

Where was the new sound coming from? It sounded like…

"NO!" cried Guntar; suddenly Leon was pushed aside, and just as he landed a scythe struck the Spanish-Romanian in the chest. He shrieked in pain, agonizing; but then the force of being struck thrust him back, and he fell off the cliff and into the water below with a great crash.

Leon didn't have time to suddenly gaze over the precipice and call after Guntar; the road ahead of him was clouded with Villagers now.

"Damn you!" he cried in anger; his RPD Force Shotgun was already wielded, and he rushed towards the villagers, with his knife in the other hand.

The first Villager was dealt with quickly; he raised his pitchfork to bring it down upon Leon, but it was knocked aside by his shotgun; and then the knife went straight into his throat. Then he thrust his fist towards the head and it was busted off from its spine with a great cracking a blood fountain.

The next villager thrust his scythe at Leon; he knew it was a faint, for the Villager then wrung it around for the midsection. Leon already had his shotgun parry it, and following through he bent down and past the villager, cutting open his ribs at the same time. Then just as he stood up, the next villager came grabbing for his shoulders.

BAM! The shot gun was thrust into the villager's face, and then there was no more of that villager's head. When the last two villagers came for him, he shot a round into their legs, and then he ran up to them and he brought the butt end of his shot gun down upon the first, breaking his skull; and then with another pull of the trigger the last villager was thrown back several feet, dead.

He was done…

But then he turned around just in time and grabbed the neck of the villager whose ribs he cut open; and then with one swift motion he broke his neck. And then with a crash the villager fell upon the ground.

Then there was silence.

Leon looked over the precipice edge and down the cliff face, hoping to find Guntar. But to his sight, he could not see anything in the water; save more water.

But he wasn't going to give up; "Guntar!" he cried. There came no reply.

"Guntar!" he tried again; but there was no reply.

"I can't give up now! I won't let him die!" he said, and he ran down the hill again and turned onto the right path. There he ran down the path for several yards until he came upon the dock. There stood a simple cabin, not much to take note off, except that inside would be a bed and place to rest. But other than that, nothing more.

The dock was a single, small platform reaching out a yard or two, where beside it sat a motor boat.

He was relieved; and he ran down the platform and then onto the boat. He sat down on it, and then reaching behind he grabbed the handle of the motor, and then with the other hand he pulled its handle chord and then turned it on, issuing a loud roaring from its motor. The boat had an iron anchor, but small enough for the boat to hold.

He guided the boat out towards the center of the lake, before he turned to the left and towards the precipice he and Guntar were originally on; yet as he got there, he found no sign of a body. This was grave news for Leon; Guntar was dead.

He hung his head in mourning. "I'm so sorry, Guntar. But… thank you."

His motor had been turned off for the present, to allow silence and prayer to take place. He prayed to himself for Guntar's soul, peacefully and quietly.

But then he heard the water rippling by itself for the first time. It was what finally caught his attention.

He looked towards the water; and sure enough, there were ripples moving about, steadily and then epidemically vanishing. And it was because of the rocking of his boat.

Something was watching him, and then vanished.

He eyed it cautiously, and quickly he turned on the motor, moving towards the center of the lake. The motor sounded disturbing to the sound of silence, especially if he was suddenly afraid. What did Luis mean back in the cabin?

Suddenly, he felt a drift in the water, causing the boat to move by itself without the use of the motor. And it happened again until Leon felt as though something else guided the boat instead.

"What the—" he started, but then the boat started shaking terribly, and then lo! the boat was thrown up into the air greatly, and crashed back onto the water roughly, knocking the anchor out from the boat and into the water.

"My God!" he cried as he took first sight upon the cause of all this.

* * *

What he saw was a terror unlike anything he had seen before; not even the crocodile he encountered in the sewers matched the greatness that this beast beheld. A great whale shaped beast, with a hide as crude as blood, decay and flesh. Within its horrid mouth behind crude lips were massive rows of teeth, bloodied and protruding. As it breached the surface of the water in front of him, it let out a great shriek and showed its horrid teeth; and out from within its throat lashed its tongue, pale and luminous like a ghost, hungry for flesh.

The villagers had no name for it when they discovered it; but they named it alike the lake, calling it Del Lago, the Guardian of the Lake. Great was its splendor and horror, it could have been the Loch Ness monster, or perhaps the Kraken. Otherwise, none knew of its origin; save their lord and master.

* * *

Once it breached, Leon quaked in its presence; holding his weapon aloft, he aimed to fire at it; but all came too swift to react towards. Del Lago came underneath the veil of water once more, and then vanished.

Yet as Leon reached for the motor, the boat was suddenly pulled by some will alone. The anchor that had been thrown over the side had caught in a crack in Del Lago's hide, and so the creature now was dragging Leon's boat across the lake. All of this was in the creature's good cause, for suddenly the monster breached again and then turned around rashly, and its mouth shot open as the boat was being thrown into it.

But Leon had already his hand upon the motor handle, and he turned it in time for the boat to jerk to the side just in time, missing Del Lago's mouth. And the beast was enraged, for it swam immediately again and dragged Leon behind it.

"This one's a persistent catch!" Leon gasped, being thrown back on the boat rather rashly. But as he landed, his elbow hit something metal lying underneath the seas. Quickly he looked, and resting below his elbow were three long, huge spears. Hope was kindled in his mind, for he knew his weapons could not penetrate the hide of Del Lago.

"This will give that creature a little something to remember!" he jested.

But just as he was ready to stand, his eyes gazed in time to see that Del Lago, being a clever monster, was leading the boat to a rising tree stump sitting in the water, with great haste!

"Son of a—" Leon gasped, but not in time; the boat slammed against the trunk, though not breaking. Yet the force was unbearable, and Leon was cast off the boat and into the water. An adrenaline was rising greatly in Leon just as he discovered the feel of water consuming him; for he could see Del Lago already turning around!

Quickly he surfaced, and suddenly the memories of his swimming lessons came 'swimming' back to his mind, and he looked around and saw the boat! It still floated still, and was not harmed.

Great! But soon he could feel that the wrath of Del Lago (as well as the hasty hunger of it) was already drawing close. And he swam repeatedly, never stopping until he could reach the boat, and just as hit the boat's edge, he immediately climbed over and reached for the motor handle; pulling it in time, the motor shot him forward and Del Lago missed; again.

This human was now become irritating, in the mind of Del Lago; now he had to work for his food! He had not worked for such things ever in his life. This was the challenge!

As soon as Leon stood on his boat, he reached down and held aloft one of the great spears. Yet when he looked around, Del Lago had vanished. He was gone from sight, or at least was vanished. No doubt, he was underneath the water, thinking of some plan.

Then he saw it, and to his surprise he saw it sooner than the creature expected; deep below him rising upwards, Del Lago was moving towards Leon's direction from the front, so that as he was surfacing the boat would drive right into his mouth and be devoured within. But Leon saw him, for the light upon the water seemed to move and he saw through the water and there it was; and it climbed steadily up, unsuspecting that Leon had seen it already.

Yet just as it was surfacing, the boat curved away and out of harm's way; Del Lago was in plain sight, and just as it was about to go submarine, it felt a great pain in its hide. Leon had cast the first strike.

The beast let out a howl that echoed greatly underneath the water, sending massive air bubbles to flow up into the air. This played out well, for Leon had already another spear in hand. Del Lago had foolishly gone up a bit towards the air in its agony, and Leon cast the next spear, chasing after the beast; and the spear pierced the beast again, and it roared again.

Never had the great Del Lago been hindered by a human being! And the pain was immense! Del Lago was careful now, and he sunk deeper into the shadows of the lake, and plotted.

Meanwhile, Leon stood upon the boat, with the last spear in hand. Now his adrenaline was at its peak, and he felt victorious— but just by a bare minimum. He hadn't defeated the creature yet.

"Come on!" he shouted; "I ain't finished with you yet, you vermin from the depths of the water!"

Del Lago, in fact, listened; anger was its emotion, and he was fed up with trying to be cunning.

Lo! Out form the distance on the lake, Del Lago breached, and headed straight for Leon! Its great mouth was open, and its tongue was outstretched to get him. But Leon knew this was the end, and that he would win. Yet he couldn't throw it now… he had to wait…

…until at last, Del Lago had come close enough, and Leon cast the spear into the mouth of the horrid monster.

"For Ahab!" Leon shouted.

The spear had pierced everything; the tongue was pinned into the back of the monster's throat until it reached the heard, and everything inside had a great hole. Then the heart of it was pierced, and thus Del Lago was defeated. It quailed, and it shrieked in pain, and then at last it passed underneath Leon in defeat, drifting to the bottom of the lake.

Leon was near to rest, having defeated the horrid monster…

…but then the rope of his anchor suddenly took his foot and was pulling him under! He panicked, almost ready to go under and down with the beast— just like Ahab with Moby Dick.

But then, Ahab had no knife! And Leon took his in time, and swiftly before the last tug would pull him under the water, the cut the rope and then it went under the water, following Del Lago to the bottom of the lake.

And then there was a great silence.

Leon fell upon his back, trying to slow down the adrenaline running through his veins. His heart beat quickly, causing his breathing to run at a heavy pace. But lying down and trying to calm himself, it began to slow down, and then he was calm.

* * *

He finished what Del Lago intruded upon, and he prayed for Guntar's soul once he reached the other side of the lake, the north bank that is. And he made a mound of dirt without anything being buried, but he gathered himself sticks and skins of sticks and he made together a wooden cross, and he stuck it into the mound, and prayed.

If only he had known him longer, he could have had help to escorting Ashley. But now, he had his own self to depend upon. He was alone once more.

He rose up upon his feet, throwing away the bonds of the past. And he looked north; there stood a metal gate in between a narrow path between two hills. Darkness was drawing nigh upon the land, but that wouldn't stop Leon.

But, something did. As he took his first step, he suddenly felt dizzy. His sight became weary, and his stepping was unsteady. And then suddenly, he felt something within his bowels stir, and it made him fall upon his knees in agony; he grunted, and his face clenched terribly.

Then he let out a terrible cough into his mouth. Yet as he reared his hand away from his mouth, he noticed a discoloration upon his hand, red and dark against his white skin.

Blood.

Then he lost it, and he fell upon his chest and lost all control of his body. He could see last with his eyes figures walking towards him, with eyes as red as fire.


	10. The Red Eyes

I return! I hope this chapter comes as a good 'heya, I'm back' kind of thing. Pardon for taking so long; I've been up to my neck with other things, but as usual, I bring you this. ;)

* * *

Leon's sleep was disturbed, suddenly, and out of the visions of darkness and of nightmares he was driven awake. But his eyes were heavy, and he could not open them. His hearing came slowly until he realized a voice was calling to him; though not in any polite way, and followed by the sound of thunder and rain.

"Wake up!" shouted the voice in Spanish, sounding monstrous and hideous.

Leon's eyes opened slowly, when a flash of lightning caused his eyes to suddenly blink in pain. He held his hands in front of them, shunning the light.

"I said—" two steps and BOOM! A boot slammed into Leon's stomach. "GET UP!"

Leon groaned heavily in pain, grasping his stomach and forcing his eyes closed even more. But no, he could not stand up. He didn't even have the courage to open his eyes.

"No!" he cried; "Go away!"

He heard an angry growl from his abuser standing over him, and Leon readied for another kick to the stomach.

"Stop!" commanded another voice.

"But he will not wake!" exclaimed the abuser.

Leon could see through his lids slightly, now. Through them he saw a grey light flooding into the room from an open doorway, where standing was a tall dark man, and a smaller figure in front of him. His abuser, no doubt.

The dark man's hand came across the villager's face with a snap, and the force caused the villager to fall down to the ground. The dark man shook his head upon the villager, who then began hissing and then standing up again.

The dark man's attention now went onto Leon, for through the cracks of his eyelids Leon perceived this man to have a bald head which turned towards his direction. But no more could Leon discern from the silhouetted man, even as he walked slowly towards him.

As soon as the dark man was standing over him, Leon looked up with his weary eyes and up to the face. He could see him now. He was a bearded old man with many wrinkles upon his wearied face. Yet it was disfigured by unknown proportions, save for his eyes. While one was a dark hue of a hideous blue, the other was red and bloody, as though a great ache was in his eye. Leon could see them when the grey light from the door was over his shoulder.

It was the chief of this village, this Mendez.

Leon's eyes were still half closed. But he could see what the dark man was doing.

"Welcome to Europe, Mr. Stranger," the chief spoke in fluent English. His voice was like dark, yet clear of anything the voices of the villagers had. Yet because of that, Leon found his voice disturbing.

Leon said nothing.

Mendez nodded to himself, as though analyzing something in his mind. Then his big hands began to dig into his pockets. Leon eyed them.

"Well, stranger, these may not be Cuban…" Mendez uttered as he pulled out his big clenched hand and then unfolded it in front of Leon's face. In it was a pack of cigarettes.

"Would you like a smoke?" asked Mendez.

Leon was cautious.

"No… I prefer gum, myself."

Mendez paused for a moment, before his head nodded again and the pack of cigarettes was in his cape.

Leon spoke: "What are you?"

Mendez blinked at Leon in surprise. "You mean _who_, _amigo_?"

Leon couldn't play this game; he played it all the time when he was in California.

"I mean _what_, and what are you is what I asked!"

Mendez was quiet. Leon's abuser snarled at him threateningly. But Mendez made a single look at the villager and he was silent. Then the big chief turned back to Leon.

He bent down onto his great knees to make himself at eye level with Leon. Leon, however, dared not to look into his eyes.

"Who are you?" asked Mendez.

Leon said nothing.

"Look at me!" Mendez ordered, grabbing Leon by the jaw and forcing his attention onto his face. "Who are you! What are you doing here in this place!"

Leon was resistant.

"I could ask the same, because I just woke up in here."

Mendez's face twitched slightly, and then his nose flared. Leon expected him to start hitting him, and in fact leaned his face one side to allow it.

However, Mendez face calmed, and he regained his control. He never once looked away from Leon, looking deep into his eyes.

"You have a lot of power in your hands, stranger," Mendez said, convincingly. "I never thought a man like you could drown the King of the Waters so well, or fend off a whole village full of Ganados," a smile came across his face. "But he was right about you. You are… different."

"Who is 'he'?" Leon asked. "Your leader, or is he the other eye?"

Mendez actually started to laugh. Leon's abuser behind Mendez was silent, and kept a threatening look at him.

Leon had to smile as well.

"Oh, you Americans are so funny," Mendez commented.

"What makes you think I'm American? I could be French."

"Now you're just sounding stupid, like all other Americans."

Leon scowled. "You sure got the guts to diss the U.S. of A."

"And you say you're not a part of it?"

"Hey, was Umbrella?"

Mendez grinned. "But Umbrella was a daydreamer. They could never gain what they hoped for, using your people like that."

Leon suddenly became curious. "How do you know about Umbrella? I don't think they'd tell that kind of thing in Euro-Television."

"Television is for the ignorant, stranger. You can never get enough of what you want out of it."

"You watch the Playboy channel, then?"

"You have a smartass mouth, stranger."

"And you've got one heckevan eye."

Mendez shook his head. Behind him, Leon's abuser started to curse at him.

"Fracaso!" shouted Mendez as he turned to him. "You may leave _now_. And don't you expect me to be happy when I see you again."  
Fracaso the abuser was flabbergasted. But he obeyed, and he left; though he snarled at Leon before he left.

Mendez turned back to Leon, sighing. "That was my son. He is… a very arrogant young man."

"And a lot more from what I've seen from his friends."

Mendez glared at him. "No. He's not like them. He… simply does not understand how to do what I want him to do."

"Why doesn't his mother help him understand?"

"I… my wife is dead." Mendez looked down.

Leon was silent. "I'm sorry."

Mendez looked at him curiously. "What have you to be sorry for? You and I are not friends."

"Yes. I don't like you one bit, not at all. I feel quite disturbed by your ugly eyes, you definitely need a shower, and I believe you are slightly mad. But, enemies, despite their differences, can learn to respect each other, even if they are great enemies."

Mendez stared at him. Leon thought that would have at least given the man some sense…

Suddenly, Mendez hand grabbed at Leon's neck with an intense grip, causing him to go into shock. Leon's hands shot up and grabbed at Mendez hand, hoping to break free. But his grip was like rock, and he couldn't get free.

"What the…!" gasped Leon. "But… but…"

"You should not underestimate us, _amigo_," said Mendez; "we are worst than Umbrella."

Leon didn't want to die this way. He struggled to break the fingers of Mendez' hand, but his fingers fumbled over the stone-like fingers that steadily increased, just strong enough to crack his head off his spine.

…his eyes finally managed to peak open at last.

Mendez suddenly let go. His eyes widened with awe as Leon squirmed away, grabbing at the air for his breathing and to get away from Mendez.

But Leon looked on Mendez in wonder. What caused him to let go?

Mendez stood up again, tall and dark. "I see… you carry the same blood as us."

Leon sat startled upon the uneven ground inside some dark hutt gazing up at the dark man in wonder, and confusion.

"The… what…?" Leon gasped through panting breaths.

Mendez was quiet. And then he turned to the grey light, stopping just before leaving. Then he looked at Leon for a moment, before he left; and the door slammed, shutting out all the light.

…but aside from the fact all the light was gone, Leon could still see slightly into the dark; he could see simple farming tools strewn around the room, hanging off of the walls and lying against them. He saw the different kinds they were; axe, scythe, saw… and even chainsaw.

"Wha… what did… he mean by that?" Leon said, his breathing coming back to him.

He stood up carefully, his legs feeling wobbly. He walked up to the door, gently grasped the doorknob and twisted. But it went barely an inch; it was locked.

"No…" he uttered.

He tried budging it with his body; but it didn't budge. Then he tried more forcefully, but then a huge pain came from his abdomen. That Fracaso gave him something to remember him by, well.

Leon threw his back against the wall in response to this pain, sinking down to the ground and grasping his abdomen. He grunted and sighed, looking hopelessly into the dark, hoping to find something for help.

Then he saw it gleaming at him, hanging from the wall, innocently but bearing a great importance somewhat. It was a simple mirror about a foot long and six inches wide. There was something reflected on it that he saw.

He stood slowly, moving towards the mirror. What was it he saw in it? What was it?

But when he was finally looking at it from up close, he saw himself. Nothing more.

Yet there was something different about him. He looked different. He was pale, and very well tired. Yet that wasn't it.

Strikingly enough, those were only side notes.

What came as a huge concern were his eyes, bearing somewhat a _red _appearance.


	11. The Big and Short of It

Hi! I'm slightly back (I'm in school, now sigh), and with another chapter! I hope you like it. It's kinda interesting. ;)

* * *

The Big and Short of It… 

In the darkness, Leon lay like a patient spider. His eyes darted to no other place but the door several feet from him. It seemed like hours had passed since Mendez' visit. He sat against the back of the hut for those apparent hours, waiting for that door to open. His hand grasped firmly onto the shaft of a pitchfork, from which he broke off, impatiently for someone to come in. He concealed it behind his back, hidden thanks to the darkness, and through it he could see everything.

How was it he could, Leon could not figure. Why was it his eyes are acting up, and why were they _red_, most of all? He had never taken drugs, from what he recalled; and they were too red to look tired or sore. His eyes felt perfectly fine.

_Perfectly… _that was a disturbing thought to Leon, however. But was it the numbness of it the cause of this trouble? Leon couldn't even _feel_ his own eyes. He even touched them, and he felt nothing through the senses of his eyes. But when he retracted his finger, it looked slightly bloody.

It was after a few hours after having breaking that pitchfork shaft off that he realized he could feel something trickle down his face. And to his surprise, it was red tears.

Suddenly, he heard the door open, and the figure walked in coughing. He held a wooden tray in his arms, which had all things wooden on it. Wooden plate, wooden cup, wooden spoon… and everything edible looked ugly.

Leon's 'feeder' was a grotesquely sick looking villager, with no manners. The villager kept coughing onto Leon's food, which consisted of gruel and moldy fly-ridden bread, without consideration of bacteria attaching to it. And when Leon expected it to be worse, the villager sneezed to the side, letting a huge gob of snot flying to the side, with leftovers hanging out of his nose.

The villager wiped it off with the sleeve of his tunic, and then looked down at Leon… with those yellow eyes of his. Leon never met him before, but he knew what kind of 'villager' he was.

The villager dropped the tray onto the ground, letting it clank and thump upon impact. Leon grimaced at it before looking up at the villager.

The villager chuckled to himself; and then he reared his head back and then forward, letting a gob of spit land smack on Leon's face.

"Pesky American!" he cursed.

Leon's face crunched up angrily, letting the villager know he was angry. But the villager only chuckled and then turned his back to Leon, heading for the door—

"Ugh!" the villager cried in surprise as a stabbing pain shot through his body. Leon quickly cupped the villager's mouth with his hand, letting only muffled grunts come out. He stabbed again, and the villager let out another pained grunt.

Soon, Leon felt blood drip across his fingers before he started to lay the villager down, backing away slowly. The villager's face became a deathly pale hue, as all the life in him drained away. Those yellow eyes suddenly vanished, and all that was left was a dark emptiness.

Leon made no more further investigation on the matter. He looked to the door, and made his way out.

'Cógero el Americano!' came a shrieking cry.

Soon, sounds of gunshots and muffled shrieks came to pass during the next few seconds. It was the sound of death…

It could also hear bones crack, and pained growls emit from the throats of angry Ganado. This American sounded as though chopping down these creatures like corn. Hmph, foolish things… if only _it _could have a chance. It would grind that American to dust, leaving behind no trace of life. Not one bit.

But it was stuck in this prison! It wanted free! It wanted to run wild, crushing everything in its sight. Yet all it could see was darkness. Its hands were bound by iron, and tried uselessly to break free.

_Let me out…! _

Suddenly it let out a huge horrendous roar, causing stifling silence to overcome the air. All seemed to hear it.

It roared again, this time pulling at the chains again. And it started kicking at the walls in front of it in hopes to pull the chains right out of them.

_Let… me out!_

There it went again. That roar. That… thing.

But Leon came back to reality, facing yet another villager threatening to overcome him. Yet with one smack of the butt end of his shotgun, the creature fell with no face. And its lifeless body was slammed upon by the raindrops of the storm.

Leon was mighty grateful he found his weapons just outside of the hut, displayed as though on for sale. But he gathered his things, and made his way out. He was surprised to find himself back in the mountain village just south of the lake. And as he came into the center of it, a thunderstorm came in, along with several Ganados.

Just before the roars, the midst of the mountain village was covered in bodies, blood, and bullet casings. And it would get bigger until Leon ran out of bullets…

Already he could see several of the Ganado charging to him. Leon took the chance he had to reload with what little time he had, before he raised his shotgun and fired.

_I must get out!_

Again and again, it pulled at the chains, kicked at the walls, and roared again, demanding release. It could not stand being chained like this forever. And to be released during the day was too much for it to be calmed afterwards. It wanted more!

Suddenly, it could feel the chains let go of it; it seemed as though the Master heard it!

And with that thought in mind, it pulled again and broke the chains that bound it. Aha! It let out a roar of freedom, feeling the hunger for death rising in its throat.

Now… to just get through the gate…

_Ding… dong…_

There it was again! That bell. How did it travel all the way down to here?

Or was Leon imagining it?

No, he wasn't. Suddenly, the villagers charging for him stopped. They listened to the bell, almost hypnotically. As it rang again, they looked as though listening to a voice, of which Leon could not hear.

_Dong…_

At this ringing, the villagers turned to the great door at the other side of the village. Leon studied it again, but in great caution. As they stepped to the door, it suddenly thundered as though something hit it. It made Leon shake right where he stood. Shivering expectation was developing inside his throat as he raised his shotgun.

The villagers discovered the great big ropes tied to the front of the doors. Each rope was taken by the many Ganado, and slowly the doors opened by brute strength. They cringed heavily as though dreading what was held inside. The sound took a life of its own, and Leon felt afraid. What lay within that cave would possibly destroy him.

But before the doors could be fully opened, they were suddenly broken! Whatever was within came out too soon and too eagerly; it bust open the doors, breaking them asunder. The villagers were thrown in places variable, and they beheld the greatness of the beast that came out.

Leon stood in awe of what this thing was, making out no sound but a face of horror.

This beast, unlike Del Lago, was more personally known and feared by the Ganado. They tamed it, they bred it, and they multiplied its like. It was a creature that defied all of God's doings, and it was made by the Ganados' horrible master. It was a hideous monster in the form of a great and torrentful troll. It stood higher than twelve feet, looking like a man but bestially grown. All over its body, its skin was moldy, green, and scale-like. Torn, ragged clothes covered no more than what was needed to cover in front of his legs and behind them. Before Leon's eyes, he would have thought this to be the actually Hulk. However, Leon discovered that this creature had no humanity in it…

El Giganté, they named it, 'The Giant'. And for no known purpose, its master kept it imprisoned. Until now.

As soon as El Giganté noticed the foolish creatures bowing before it, it began to mass rampage on them. One by one, it killed them. He took them into his hands and crushed them to death, he stepped on them, he drove them into the earth, and threw them over the village fences and into the chasms beneath. And it was pleased.

Then it remembered that the American was still alive.

Leon took several uneasy steps backwards away from it, lowering his gun in hopes to show 'peace'. But the creature roared at him, and at the same time a thunderclap shot in the air. El Giganté wanted a fight… and so he stepped forward to Leon, as a challenge.

Leon quaked in its presence. He had never seen anything so big in his life—and it was real! It wasn't CGI, it wasn't special effects; it was _real_.

And worst of all, _it _wanted to kill _him_.

"Oh shit…" he cursed.

El Giganté reached for Leon with its humongous hands, suddenly grabbing him and pulling him to it. It held him in front of its eyes, studying him with great focus. But then without any further ado, the beast's fingers started to close tightly, slowly crushing Leon.

Leon could feel his body thinning with the great pain that came with it. And he felt utterly useless… yet, one of his hands was free.

_Argh! _roared El Giganté as it dropped Leon out of its hands.

Leon's knife glinted with the stains of green blood crawling upon it, with him noticing it as he landed on the ground, tucking and rolling away from the beast at the same time. Then he stood up and grinned at the beast.

El Giganté grimaced. It was now fully angry by this point, unable to contain its wrath. By now, it was at full steam and ready to charge.

From Leon's view, he felt the urge to get out of the way.

At sudden speed the beast ran towards him, carrying that huge body across and towards him, roaring angrily as blood eked out of its arm; it went straight for Leon, arms lunging forward with flexing fingers.

Leon suddenly turned and jumped towards the houses, just missing the beast's swiping fingers. His own fingers suddenly felt cold steel, and when he looked he could see a nice machete nearby. Quickly taking it, he stood up and looked at the beast.

El Giganté started laughing. _Pathetic! _And then on its big and mole-covered feet it stepped menacingly towards him.

_Heh, like I'd actually win… _Leon thought as he grimaced. Then he looked at the houses, and then back at the beast. Without second thoughts he started running past the houses, between the tighter ones and looking over his shoulders.

But El Giganté was powerfully strong, and it was also tall. And the houses that stood in its way were smashed in or walked on. They were without difficulty for the creature as it stalked heavily towards the American, with an evil grin on its face.

_Oh cRAP! _Leon was now getting angry himself. He had to get some heavy artillery somehow.

He ran his way through more buildings, hearing thunder slam the skies and see thousands of splintered wood scatter due to the beast. Eagerly he looked through windows and open doors in hopes to find any weapons; so far, he was going to die without a gun. His own had vanished mysteriously.

El Giganté was growing impatient, but it couldn't help but have a little fun with destroying the huts and houses. At least it gets to destroy something. But it really wanted the American!

Leon soon found himself in the middle of the battlefield again, looking everywhere and seeing nothing but debris—and El Giganté standing amongst the ruins. Both of them were staring into each others eyes, studying each other once. El Giganté felt desire to destroy, while Leon felt the urge to defend himself. But with what, a machete? That'd be impossible.

Well, he wasn't going to die without a fight. So he grasped tightly onto the machete, and he started stepping towards the beast, while it itself cracked its knuckles and did the same. Then they quickened their pace, and went straight for each other.

They had battled long, missing each other and dodging each other. By the end, El Giganté was covered in cuts and Leon was in bruises. The beast was impressed by the human, and felt slightly threatened. It had to do something…

And as though its thoughts were answered, it noticed a tall tree standing nearby. It was suddenly filled with hope to end this competition, this duel! And with a great _yoink _it pulled the tree right out of the ground, holding it threateningly at Leon.

_Oh shit…_ Now Leon almost lost grip on his machete. But hopes were still in him, and he grasped it tightly again; he would somehow get through this.

El Giganté was, again, impressed. A human was willing to still fight, even if he was challenged by a _tree_. The beast was now curious to see how the human would fare.

With a great swing, El Giganté's tree aimed to swipe at Leon; but with clever senses the American ducked just in time and rolled away. El Giganté used the momentum of the tree to suddenly raise it over its head and aim it straight for Leon in hopes to crush him.

That was dodged just in mere seconds that flashed like the lightning overhead. Leon was surprised he found himself still standing after that one. But then he suddenly realized the club was moving for him again!

El Giganté swiped at Leon again, who cleverly dodged back and away from the tree's range of swing. Angered, now, El Giganté had one last hope in disposing this American.

"Holy Christ!" Leon gasped as he ducked just in time to avoid losing his head. Now the beast was spinning in circles and swinging the thing at the same time!

Leon just missed the thing from thwacking his head off, and slowly he backed from the thing. And as he turned to the monster again, he realized that the thing was now _dizzy_!

_Here goes nothing…! _

"ARGH!" roared El Giganté again as it felt a sharp pain strike it from the side, swinging its tree at the same time. It just missed Leon but singed his arm slightly, giving him a nasty cut from the bark; this caused him to suddenly run back, totally forgetting his thigh-embedded machete.

El Giganté did not care to take out the machete in its thigh; it was now angry again! And Leon was doing nothing but dodge it. This was not working. This tree was useless!

But, then, El Giganté got an idea.

_Oh shitttttt! _Leon started running for his life!

El Giganté threw that tree at Leon like it was meant to be a Frisbee, with it spinning violently in circles towards at Leon.

He just missed it, but he also found his shoulder throbbing with pain as his shoulder slammed against the fence pretty roughly. His shoulder happened to make a dent in the hard metal fence.

Then as Leon looked at his surroundings, he realized that El Giganté was standing right behind him—and he was cornered by it!

Leon glared at the beast, knowing too well his defeat. El Giganté seemed pleased, however, that its ploy had worked very well. It felt full of boasting pride as it watched the human glare back at him angrily in defeat.

El Giganté cracked its knuckles again, letting a _crrrack, crack, crack _emit to scare Leon. It made him tense, though he wasn't really afraid. And even if he was, he was going to face this fear.

Leon had to admit defeat. But he was proud of himself. He fought well, and did a lot. But, no, he hadn't; he certainly had not saved Ashley, and he certainly didn't find out the reason for all this mess. He guessed that, now, he would be haunted by thoughts of Raccoon City in the afterlife.

Leon closed his eyes as he waited for his death. All he could hear was the beast's breathing in and out like a hungry tiger, the thunder roaring tremulously, and…

…a wolf's cry.

Suddenly, El Giganté's attention changed to the cliffs hanging over the village. And there, standing amongst them, was a proud and battle-ready dog. It waited patiently at the cliff, standing grandly with grey and white colors.

Leon opened his eyes and noticed the wolf too. Somehow, he could recognize it, but, he could not place how…

El Giganté somehow felt threatened. It growled angrily and stepped towards the cliffs, grabbing the tree as it passed it by.

But the dog seemed to know what it was doing already, and with great reflexes Leon could ever see from an animal, it started jumping from cliff to cliff, just before El Giganté slammed into the primary cliff with the tree, splintering it and wrecking the cliff as well. The beast was angered, and so it stood under the cliff that the dog was standing on, about several feet over El Giganté's head. Leon watched everything from afar in awe.

El Giganté's big hands reached up as it jumped, grabbing the ledge and slowly pulling itself up. But knowing not too well the consequences of this, it suddenly felt small claws tear at its fingers.

El Giganté let go growling in pain. And as it landed, it looked at its torn knuckles. And it was unbeknownst to the dog perched on its shoulder.

The beast roared again as the dog's jaws clamped on its neck, tearing through flesh and blood vessels, amounting to a crucial and vital wound that would greatly scar and hinder this beast.

El Giganté grabbed the dog by its tail, hanging it and growling at it. In response, the dog scraped at its face. El Giganté covered its face with its bloodied hands, growling and roaring in pain. The dog barked with success.

The beast started stumbling about the place, throwing its shoulders about and weeping in pain. Some sort of activity was somehow going on with the beast, for suddenly both of its hands started scratching its back. And beneath the skin there a bulge suddenly appeared, moving and looking alive.

Then, suddenly, something tore right through its skin, poking out of its back, causing it to fall down on its hands and knees, roaring in pain. It wriggled in tension and surprise, as though it was another life being. It was long and almost rubbery looking, with great, long and pumping veins coursing through its ever-mutating form. It somehow looked like a mutated pimple in Leon's opinion. Yet, somehow it had to be crucial to the beast's life form.

The machete sticking out of its thigh glinted, and it caught Leon's attention. He somehow knew if he got rid of the Thing, he could defeat the beast!

Leon made great haste to the beast, and then grabbing the machete he jumped onto the things back, and then with one great swipe, the Thing was cut off. As soon as it landed, it splattered and sent black blood scattering in several directions.

El Giganté, however, stood up immediately, making Leon fall foully on his back. And then the beast let out one last roar, and suddenly a blinding light came down upon it. When the light was gone, the beast stood as still as a statue, staring into nothing and with all the hairs on its arms and back standing solidly erect.

As Leon recovered from the fall, he could see that El Giganté was going to fall on him! And with the reflexes he had, he jumped out of the way just in time; and in his place, El Giganté fell hard, causing a tremor to pass through the earth. El Giganté, was defeated.

The storm had passed by, and soon only the faint sounds of thunder were left to be heard of it. No more rain came down.

Leon stared down at the massive dead El Giganté. He dared not to touch it; if he did, he'd electrify himself. He did not doubt this body was perhaps with electrons. And noticing its fingers and feet twitching, it proved his point. The creature was finally dead.

Then he noticed the dog. He carefully looked at his hero, trying to find out what was it about it he recognized. And then, as though it could hear his thoughts, it turned around and lifted one of its hind legs. From here, not only could Leon see that the dog was a male, he could also see that its leg was bandaged. It was the dog _he _saved way back before he went to the village!

And as soon as this realization came to thought, the dog barked and scrambled to Leon and then leapt onto him!

Leon downright buckled on the sheer size of the dog; he stood about up to his waist, so he was _big!_

Right when Leon slammed on the floor beneath, he felt the dog's tongue flap across his face. Hound spit was soon covering his face, and it didn't smell too good.

Quickly Leon pushed the dog off, though with great difficulty. When it was off, Leon stood up again, though ready for another pounce. But the dog simply sat and smiled at him.

Leon was quite impressed. He hadn't seen a dog so… smart, ever in his life.

He bent down and stroked the dog's soft coat, looking into its little brown eyes curiously. The dog was panting as though there was a heavy heat around them both (when really it was quite cold), looking back at Leon.

At that moment, there was a cry.

"Barunca!"

Leon immediately stood up, gun in hand, when he heard that voice. It came from the open northern gate. Having his gun pointed in that direction, the sights of his gun fell upon a somewhat old man.

Leon, quite befuddled to see him, pointed his gun threateningly. But he didn't say anything. He just waited for the man to start charging at him.

The old man noticed the dog. "Barunca!" The dog suddenly sprinted from Leon's side and jumped onto the old man, who surprisingly could support the weight of the creature.

"Alright! Get off, get off!" the old man ordered, pushing the dog off of him. By the sound of his voice, he sounded almost like the villagers. But he was much unlike them, for his voice had decency and livelihood in them. His presence felt like an actual human's.

His eyes moved towards Leon's, who was quite shocked by the dog.

The old man looked at him, seeming nervous under the gun's glare. His eyes were widened in awe of this man, looking at him from head to toe, trying to decipher what kind of man he was. Leon could tell he hadn't seen the likes of him ever; or at least for a long time.

Finally, Leon lowered his gun. Though he was ready for if this man should do anything sudden.

It was then that the old man noticed the dead ogre lying behind Leon. He gasped and put a hand over his mouth to try and cover his gasp. Leon simply looked over his shoulder, and shrugged his shoulders.

The old man looked back at Leon. But he didn't say anything.

"You… but… how?" he stammered.

Leon wasn't too sure what to say. What would one say after killing an ogre?

Leon started to speak, but fumbled. "Um… well… would… would you like the long or short version of my story?"


	12. The Stranger

Howdy! I finally completed this chapter. XD Woah GOD! XD Took long enough, ey?

This is a little preparation for a very, heheh, scary portion... Enjoy!

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The old man immediately hushed him.

"Bah! Dun get stahted! I know what you deed. You used yo majeek treeks!"

Leon blinked. "I used my what?"

"Majeek treeks!" the old man repeated a bit harder, in his croaky, wild Spanish accent. "You used dat ting in yo _manos_ to keel it!"

"Oh!" Leon held up his gun. "You mean this old thing?"

The old man looked away. "Do not show me dat ting! I dun wanna know where it came from!"

Then, a pause, and then the old man was laughing happily to himself, as though hearing a joke.

Leon kind of paused for a moment, glancing down at his gun, and then at the old man. Was he crazy or what?

The old man knelt down and began talking to his wolf in Spanish, chuckling yet casting a wary eye at Leon.

Leon did not like being looked this way. He pointed his gun away.

"Um, sir, are you alright?"

"Wha?" the old man stood up and faced Leon. "Am I a' right? No, I am a left! I use me left mano!" he began laughing again.

Leon stared at him. "Sir, is there something wrong with you?"

"Sum'ting wrowng? I have a wolf wit me, eez da sum'tin wrowng?"

Leon couldn't believe this! Why was this guy acting so strange and irritating?

"Answer me straight, sir!"

"No, I ansah diaganally!"

Leon was getting real tempted to wave his gun at the old man. But he made himself stand down.

"Look, uh, do ya want to come to me casa and have a sum'ting to derrink?" the old man asked, turning to the direction of the lake.

Leon couldn't answer straight, sideways or backwards. He stared blankly at the old man.

The old man blinked. "Eh? Ya gonna make me stand 'eerr and mek you come to me casa?"

Leon bit his lip trying to find a good word or two. "Um… I really can't right now."

"Oof, why not? I no _Ganado_!" the old man said.

That word caught Leon off guard. Ganado!

"What! Ganado!" Leon stepped closer to the old man. "What do you know about them? What are they? Where do they come from—"

"Ey! Ey!" the old man said, hitting Leon in the side with his crane. Leon hadn't notice it before…

"Before ya get up and goin' wit da questions, why not do so over a good jabba? Eh, uh… coffee!"

"…Coffee?" Leon repeated in a slow tone of voice. "Did… you just said _coffee_ now, right?"

The old man nodded. "Si! You got good eers for up close. Like to see what day got in lowng range!" he chuckled again. "But si, I said coffee. Follow me to me casa and I'll share sum wit you!"

Leon hesitated. But, when he turned around and saw the giant dead troll, he kind of thought otherwise.

"Yes. Please, lead me to your casa."

"A'aight!" the old man said, as jolly as an elf. He didn't even take a second look at the troll, or at least Leon didn't notice. He didn't bother looking at the wreckage again.

The old man led Leon through the gate and back into the wild. Leon couldn't recognize this place, now that all was cast in darkness. He was surprised the old man could even see through this darkness.

Leon felt Barunca, the wolf, brush against his leg as they walked, and move up to the old man. The old man spoke lovely remarks about the wolf in Spanish to himself, and perhaps partly to Leon. He certainly sounded as though speaking to three people.

About ten minutes of walking, the land got a bit bushier than normal. Leon could tell they were nearby the lake. The smell of the water lingered, with a strange addition to the kind you smell in a garbage waste. Leon wondered where that smell came from.

The old man began talking again.

"Well, Americano, me casa ain't exactly a full house. Ees closer to a straight and fit enough for therrree jacks!" the old man chuckled like mad again.

Leon was partly amused.

"Heh, but no. Ees more of uh hut dan uh casa, and I found it several months ago, and decided to live there. I certainly deed nat want ta live in El Pueblo ageen. Seence den, everryting 'as been messed up. Da villagers were no friendly wit me and Barunca after a while. Day dit not like dis wolf at first. And ees a fine wolf; friendly wit everyone, actually! Before He came, Barunca would even let da children pet him. The adults were too afraid to do so, and 'ushed deir children away from 'im. He got lonely, and so I took 'im in and trained 'im to follow me. Everyone was easier with him then… but… I'm afraid they changed with the new Padre."

Leon's head turned. "Padre? Who's that?"

Just then, they Leon saw a light up ahead. The old man was joyful, for the light was coming from a dirty little hut down the road— nearby the lake.

_So this hut belongs to this guy… interesting… perhaps I should ask him about that creature._

"'ere we are!" the old man exclaimed. "Hut sweet hut. I never thought dirrty crap would be so heavenly. Well, da Good Lord provides."

He came up to the front door, pulled the knob and pushed. It didn't open. So the old man –BUMP— rammed his shoulder into it, and it opened with a thrust. He almost fell into the hut had he not placed a supporting foot on where he would fall. He shook, but then chuckled.

"Cum on een!" he said. Barunca immediately ran into the hut.

Leon hesitated first. He looked over his shoulders, making sure there was no one else around. He did not want anyone to know he was here.

But the old man did not seem to care. He waved his hands to beckon Leon, and even said a bit louder, "Cam on! I ain't gun bite you! If I did, I would be infected!" he laughed.

Now this guy was weird beyond a max. But more than that, he was suspicious. Now Leon entered the hut. And he cocked his gun quietly.

It was a very small hut. It was a single roomed hut. In the right hand side was the fireplace, and it was well lit with big logs and a good flame. In the center and next to the fireplace was a well sized table with plates on it; bread and cups. To the left was a bed. It was not a big bed, but it was enough to keep a poor man warm in winter.

They sat at the table at the old man's invitation. He man served Leon coffee. And it was really good coffee, too! He felt energized the moment his lips touched the hot fluid. When he drank it, it rushed to all the corners of his body: hands, feet, toes, arms, and etc. He felt awake, now!

Then the old man also served him cake! That was a big surprise. At first, Leon wondered where it came from. But when he saw the beautiful frosting, immediately he began cramming his face with the sweet, sweet stuff. Frosting covered his mouth, and his belly was half full.

The old man was smiling the whole time, taking a knife and carving a stick into some ornament Leon couldn't recognize. Barunca was sitting next to the old man's chair, gnawing on a bone. Leon was half curious about where the bone came from.

The old man kept watching Leon. He smiled through the whole process.

Leon felt uncomfortable. He then looked hard at the old man, pushed his plate and cup away, and leaned back. Sitting against his thigh was his gun; he had it ready for anything.

The old man chuckled. "Feeling better, amigo?"

Leon nodded. "Very well, thank you sir."

"Pish, tosh! No sir in dees hut! You may call me Gist!"

Leon recalled all the names in his Spanish dictionary stuffed inside his head. He never heard a Spanish name sound like that at all.

"That's a rather strange name, isn't it?"

Gist shrugged. "Meh, I'm strange; nothing can be better said."

Leon paused for a moment.

"Where are you from, Americano? What is your name? Why do you 'ave a gun? Why did you keel dat troll?" Gist started asking all these questions, almost at once.

Leon barely had a change to remember what the first question was. He started shaking his head, waving his hands to stop the old man.

"Wait, wait, wait! Ask a question at a time, please. I… well…"

Gist put his elbows on the table, leaning in expectantly and watching Leon with wide eyes.

Leon was quiet. If he were to tell him who he was, he was risking security breech. This old man could be a spy for whoever is running this shitplace.

But, then again, Leon told that Luis Sera. Why not this guy?

There was something odd about this man. He was highly unlike any person Leon had ever met. He imagined Gist to be the kind of maniac from a Firesign Theater radio show. He could be dangerous.

But, Leon almost forgot. Leon is Nick Danger, Third Eye!

He decided to tell him.

"My name is Leon Kennedy. I… I'm a government agent."

"Oooo!" Gist cooed. "Like James Bond or Number Seeks?"

"Numer Six?" Leon repeated. Who was— Oh, yeah.

Patrick McGoohan.

"Well, yes. Something like them. I work indirectly for President Graham. He runs my country."

"Oh, sure, leave out da name of yo country, will ya!" Gist said, chuckling immediately afterwards. "Oh, but go on! I'm leessening…"

"Okay… I've been sent by the president to investigate a kidnapping of his daughter, Ashley. Lately, our sources have told us that she has been seen around these parts. I was sent here to see if they were wrong…"

Leon went dead cold in his tale.

Gist looked at Leon, understandingly…

"Den you came upon Them," he said.

Leon looked unrepentantly at Gist. "Who?"

"De Villagers! _Los Ganados de Diablo_!" Gist said almost like a curse, looking out the window. "Dey were da reason I left da village. Me and Barunca were out wit da children. Dey were enjoying demselves, playing wit Barunca. He enjoyed dem too… But, den, THEY came! Out of the forest dey snatched the children, attacking poor Barunca and me at da same time! I almost died… but I didn't. I used what knowledge of fighting my fader taught me, and I keeled da devil that attacked me wit his own scythe. He now has no eyes…

But den more came… I turned and ran, calling Barunca. He didn't come…. And…" he started to go deathly pale, looking hurtfully out the window. A sickly looking tree seemed to glare down at him and Leon through the window. "…as I ran, I looked back… I could see deir faces… deir scared, horrified faces…"

"…dey boocherred de kids!" Gist started crying. "Dey… dose poor… innocent children! Dose… monsters! Dey slaughtered dem like cattle! And dem children had no chance of survival!..." he broke down crying, looking down at the table in angst, woe, and horror.

Leon felt horribly touched. He could now realize who also laid dead and butchered in that dumpster back in the village.

He let go of his gun. He put a hand on Gist's shoulder, comforting him.

"I'm so sorry… they… this is horrible."

Gist nodded. "Si… dey severed dem limb by limb… some even took de girls off into the woods, and pained cries I heard coming from dere…" he shivered disgustedly.

Leon groaned. "Why would they do such a thing? Who are they?"

Gist turned to Leon in shock. "I told you! _Los Ganados de Diablo! _They are demons!"

"But what happened to the real villagers?"

"I dun know… but I know that I keeled my old friend dat dey… ee was not my friend den. He was _Ganado de Diablo_!"

Leon gasped. "What? Are you saying your friend became… a Ganado?"

"Si! And so was ees wife, and den err friends… and den deir friends… dey all became _Los Ganados de Diablo_! And it was all becomes of Him! Dey turned when He came!"

"Who's he?" Leon asked, curiously.

"Ees called Saddler. Osmund Saddler. Ee is a priest from da Mid-East, do' he speak lie' we do when we speak to 'eem. I can only tell ee is from da East because ee said so once to me. I actually asked eem where ee came from, and ee said 'I am from da Mid-east.' Ee wouldn't tell me exactly where. Only 'Da East'."

"What's he doing here?" Leon asked, without another thought.

"I dun know. But when ee showed up, everyone began to change. And den a week passed, and den the children were keeled. I dun know if all were keeled; I just know da ones Barunca played with are dead. And den everyting changed. De trees were no longer 'appy. De eart was no longer 'elty. De lake was too calm, except when dey came. I managed to lay hidden, because no one comes to dis hut. I dun know why. But I stay here, and watch dem dump bodies into da lake. Den I see It move in da water, and den da bodies are gone. Del Lago likes meat."

"Del Lago? Is that what…" he carried off.

Gist nodded. "Mmm… I watched you."

Leon gaped at Gist. "Wha?"

"Si. I watched your friend die, sadly. I was out taking Barunca for a walk when I saw de commotion on top of da heel. I am, so sorry about your friend…"

Leon nodded sadly. "Thank you."

"Oo was ee?"

"My driver."

Gist nodded. "No mean offense; he dive good into water before eaten. Must have been a swimmer in school."

Leon had to shrug. "Well, he stuck with me until he died."

Gist nodded. "That sounds like he was a good friend."

"He could have been…

"…but tell me," Leon diverted the subject. "Have you seen a huge man that looks kind of Osama Bin-laden in a blue coat?"

Gist didn't need to think. "Si! I know da guy. Mean sumbitch. He keeked Barunca when I wasn't looking!"

Leon grimaced. "Well, I've had a few runs with the guy. He… um…"

Gist looked warily at Leon. "What?"

Leon remembered those words.

_I see… you carry the same blood as us…_

"I… um…"

Suddenly, Gist looked at Leon cautiously. "Leon, are you a'aight!"

Leon blinked. His eyes felt sore. "What? Why?"

"Yo ojos! Dey red!" the old man exclaimed.

"WHAT!"

Leon jumped out of his seat, his hands dashing for his eyes in shock. Gist jumped out of his, grabbing Leon by his shoulders and gazing into his eyes. Gist was mortified.

"You… you have deir eyes. Dey look just like deirs do. Only… yos ees fainter. Not as ferocious."

Leon's eyes, wide in pain and awe, were glaring back into Gist's grey-blue eyes. What was happening to him?

Gist released Leon, his shoulders suddenly feeling more relaxed from the iron grip the old man had. He rubbed his shoulders, looking at the old man in awe.

Gist looked back at Leon in caution. But, he did not back away.

"Are you sure you are from de United States?"

"Yes! I know very well I'm from the U.S.!"

"How can you prove eet? Can you remember da U.S. Constitution?"

"Do you even know it?"

Gist paused. "Well, no, uh…"

"I am NOT what you think I am," Leon said, holding his arms up. "I am NOT a creepy villager. You GOT to understand that, please…"

Gist took a moment to himself, before he sighed and nodded his head. "A'right. I believe ya, Mr. Kennedy."

Leon took a deep breath. "Thank you Gist…"

Gist took a look out the window, noticing the darkness. "You should probably get some sleep before it gets too dark, señor. You need some rest."

Leon shook his head. "No, I'm going to find the President's daughter; I can't afford to sleep." And he motioned to the door.

Gist shook his head. "No, you no understand, Americano, if you no sleep, you go die! Ees not hard math, Leon. My Barunca could understand it."

"But you and Barunca do nothing but hide. I, however, gotta do what I gotta do, no matter how tired I am."

Gist looked worried for Leon, but, he shrugged his shoulders. "A'right, Mr. Kennedy… I cannot fight you from doing yo job. I only wish you da best o' luck, me amigo."

Leon nodded. "Thank you, sir. My best of luck to you as well."

Gist chuckled. "Na, na, ees no problem. If I die here, I die here. I can never leave my home, so if I am killed, den whoop-dey-doo. Good luck, Mr. Kennedy. I hope you find dat girl, and dat you both get off the island safely."

Leon took his gun and started moving for the door, tapping Gist on the shoulder. "Thank you sir."

He grasped the doorknob just as he felt something scratch his leg. Barunca did not want him to go.

Leon frowned. "G'bye, Barunca. I owe you one, girl."

Barunca whined, not wanting him to go.

But Leon did as he had to: he left.

Stepping out into the open air at night was like entering another nightmare. Seeing the visions of shriveled trees and rotten grass was something you would see in a nightmare before Christmas story. It was creepy that Leon had to traverse in this darkness, when he could barely see anything.

"Well, I might as well make the best out of a bad situation…"

He pulled out a device from his sack and then flicked it open to reveal a compass. Comparing the direction he was now facing to the satellite-receiving map on his radio, he had to cross the lake and continue going north. Northwards was the destination of the church: in other words, Ashley.

"Alright; across the lake… that's… that's no problem at all," Leon mumbled.

It indeed was not a problem, but he was haunted by it. Any moment, the creature below could come back from the dead like a zombie and swallow him whole. He was very nervous as he crossed the lake… the dark waters remained unsettling and discomforting to Leon. Almost like gazing into some kind of watery oil and waiting for a monster to pop out.

The fear of the unknown was what shook Leon.

But he made it across at last, on the motorboat which had been docked at Gist's house, miraculously. And, almost reminiscing, Leon looked back at Gist's house, at the other side of the lake. He saw the small candlelight lit through the window still wavering.

And then it went completely dark.

Leon frowned. But, not saying a word, he turned northward. And there, he saw a metal gate leading through what seemed to be passes under another mountain. The mountain seemed foreboding, like the tip of a witch's hat.

What dangers would Leon face? What horrors would he stand up against?

"Let's kick some ass," he said. He went right through the gate and into another shadow. And, just as he began his journey through the passes, it started to rain. A storm was heading this way.


	13. Saddler

***chuckle* Chief got his teepee back...** **deedle-deedle-dee.**

**Finally had the courage to continue this part of the story. Still in college, having a gaseous (That is I'm having a gas; NO TO PHYSICAL OIL CONSUMPTION; it's bad for your throat!) time here. AND it just so happens that as of late I've been having a lot of literary inspiration to write again.**

**So, here we go. ^^ DISCLAIMER: Resident Evil and recognizable events and characters belong to Capcom, whereas the incidence in which they occur, how they act and the characters that are new are original. Enjoy, and SCREAM.**

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KRAKOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW………

…

Leon kept his eyes on where he was going, his flashlight shining the ground before him from his hip. His gun in hand, the rain hard upon his face, he shook the feeling of immobility and pressed on.

THUNDER, LIGHTNING— they broke the sky back and forth. One nearby—BAM—Leon cowered a bit just to avoid the shock of it in his ears.

On he went.

He knew to expect the horrid and unexpected due to his survival of Raccoon City, six years ago. Zombies had infested the town in an outbreak of a T-Virus, manifested by a scientist in hopes to revolutionize the study upon the living cell.

But what could explain the ganados?

Taking a knee next to a tree, he pulled out his map. There was a waterfall at the bottom of this ravine. A tunnel in the waterfall. Led to a small river that streamed out into the bay. An infrastructure stood at the top of the cliff. There. It had to be the church; the village sat right next to it. Ashley Graham. He would get his job done. At last.

STOP. Voices. Ahead.

…snarls ahead.

He looked past the tree. Not only did he see their figures, but, their eyes had illuminated in the dark. Red, they glowed.

He moved barely, yet his foot had stepped on a twig and it finally snapped under the weight.

He readied his pistol.

To his surprise, the two ganados responded lazily.

"A ver, el hombre con el mismo sangre."

They merely turned around to follow the noise, and their eyes could see him. The dark did not hinder their sight.

By now Leon would have shot them dead—had they shouted, that is—or come upon them and stabbed them. But he found himself startled by their reaction.

Then, startled by their next reactions. They walked towards his general direction sluggishly, and their heads twitched vehemently. One dropped his sickle and did not mind to pick it up again. They just kept walking.

"Alright." He said to himself. "Time to—" _stick the pig so it can't scream_. He stopped.

At once, KERSPLATTCHEN.

A fountain of blood and pus gushed out of their shoulders, splattering brains and gore over the rocky walls as their innards dangled and waved from their neck.

Their bulbous and quivering innards.

Out of their necks stood what looked like bloody, slimy sacs, accompanied by loose and limp tendril-- which carried scythe-like appendages on the tips. They were cutting towards Leon maniacally, but the bodies still walked lazily.

As Leon raised his gun—

BOOSH.

An attack from above. A ganado tackled him from behind.

Rustling with the ganado, Leon's hand felt empty and his gun had flown several feet away. Wrestling, he pulled out his knife and dug into the creature's nose. Kicking him up, he jumped—no, he stayed down. He crawled backwards. The beheaded ganados were right on him.

He jerked his face back, avoided a slash.

His hand reached for the gun; no touch, no touch.

SCYTHE; miss. The ganados sped up a bit.

No gun—SCYTHE—miss—GUN!

Leon grasped and pulled. Shot a ganado in the shoulder, pushing him back, once more he pulled and shot in the sac. The sac quivered painfully and slashed blindly, slicing into the other ganado's sac and splitting it off the shoulder.

The beshouldered sac did not die. It began crawling to Leon, like a spider, its performance hampered by its injury.

Leon pulled again—shot the standing ganado's sac once more—and then kicked just at the right moment to catch the tendril of the other sac. The standing ganado fell onto its back, and the sac on it exploded. The remaining sac began climbing up his leg and rearing its scythe.

BAM. Leon pulled the trigger. The sac exploded all over him.

It started raining harder. Good. Wash off this crap…

"¡Agárrenlo!" the ganados shouted. They were coming from the lake.

So he got onto his feet and ran down the ravine.

* * *

At the bottom was a complex assortment of levers, platforms and ropes, all surrounding the waterfall. This must have been a dock. According to his map, there was a cave in the waterfall that led to the graveyard from the backside.

The ganados were far behind him but still chasing.

He walked down the decline to the edge of the river. The waterfall he had to go through, well, the water was heavily downpouring over the cave entrance.

A wooden walkway crossed the river to a parapet. There had to be controls in there. He walked across the water and into it, finding mechanical controls. He fiddled with one lever, and one side of the waterfall's path was blocked.

An idea, hmm…

Among the buttons and levers on the panel, two tall levers stood erect. The lever to his right, when pulled back, did nothing. But when pushed, a shaft-like object, moved by a crane-like structure, blocked the passage of the waterfall so that the water dispersed to the side.

He did the same to the left lever, and PRESTO, a hole in the waterfall equals a way to success.

A grin.

Ganados. Gotta get moving.

* * *

The tunnel was wet. Dark and wet. Long, too.

His flashlight's rays crazily moved as he ran. He figured by NOW that if he destroyed the panel he would probably cause a malfunction and would have stopped the ganados. _Crap._

He could hear their footsteps far behind him, echoing down the tunnel. If he slowed down, they would get him.

If they slowed down, something could be ahead.

At long last he came to the end.

A small river. A boat.

Considering his options, he took the boat.

The small river soon opened into a bay as Leon saw the dark sky. By now, the storm has slightly dissipated and clouds showed patches of dark night sky. The stars were invisible.

His eyes caught sight of a cliff to his left. Atop that cliff he saw a knife-like tip of a roof bearing a strange symbol. Taking his binoculars, Leon examined the symbol.

Same as the one in the mountains, on the gate. Where he fought the troll.

There was a dock at the bottom of the cliff. Leon soon found himself climbing up a steep incline of a path. It seemed like forever. Meters upon meters, he climbed. Sweat beaded off his forehead and his legs grew sore.

Sore and—

He was at the top. Death surrounded him at once.

Mists gathered all over the grounds, surrounding the gravestones of old and present families that had lived on this island for centuries. There were modern structures scattered over the graveyard, bearing the spider-like symbol and skulls in caskets, signs written in blood. There was even a stone table in the middle, covered to the granite in organs.

To his left was another path. This one led to the village, he knew.

To his right, stood the church.

Whoever built this church possessed gothic thoughts. That, coupled with Tim Burton.

The structure was simple: a chapel. Dark stone and a morbid history covered this tiny temple. Up a few steps and between two columns stood a door. The entire place seemed quiet.

Leon tread carefully to the front door regardless. Death is as silence wills. Or as death wills when laying a trap.

Up the steps he went, cautiously looking upon the building that seemed to glower down on him from above, and approached the door. The evil insignia of the village covered its front.

He grasped the handle slowly, an obsidian doorknocker. Giving a little twitch of his shoulder, the door slid open without a creak. It seemed like a perfectly silent entry.

A smell of wine and incense cascaded from inside.

In he went.

The chapel looked smaller inside. Several pews lined on the sides of the aisle led to a violet-shaded altar, which beheld a bronzed statue of the village's insignia hanging over it and supported by chains.

Leon shivered. He found more cheer in an Anglican church.

He looked around for any doors or ladders. Ashley had to be somewhere—ah, a door!

The door stood in the back, to the right, behind the altar. Past the pews, candles on walls, tables of evil, and to the door. He laid his back against the left side of the door, wielding his pistol. Free hand, he turned the knob. It was locked.

Another door on the other side of the church. Locked as well. The two doors must have led into a back passageway where the priests and acolytes could change. Similar fashion to a Catholic church Leon visited in North Carolina.

A ladder next to the door he just inspected. He climbed it. At the top, the rampart led around the church from above. There was a door on the east side.

To it he went. Same procedure: back to wall, check the doorknob. Locked.

A sigh.

Not from Leon. From behind the door. Someone was in there.

A girl.

He had no key. He didn't want to alert anyone around.

But who else was there around?

He KICKED in the door, breaking the lock and slamming the door open.

The girl inside panicked, backing away suddenly, letting out a cry, and cowered into the foodstuffs.

"GO AWAY! GO AWAY!" she cried, holding up her hand fearfully.

"Hold on! Hold on!"

"Go--… Who are you?!" she was still frightened.

"Ashley Graham, I'm Leon Kennedy."

"Okay…"

"Your father sent me to rescue you. Come with me." At last, he found her.

Sizing her up from where she sat, she was a petite youth. Leon expected her to stay at least warm, but her clothes were small and almost minimal, consisting of a light brown sweater, a scarf, a green skirt barely going past her knees, and knee-high boots. Her blonde hair flowed down smoothly to the top of her shoulders, though no bangs covered her small, tender (though scared) face. Yet, she looked like a wolf.

She took a breath. "My… father?" she was calming down a little bit.

"Yes. Come, I'm getting you out of here."

"And how the hell are you going to do that."

_Damn. What a mouth._

"Just come with me, everything is planned out."

"That's what the porter said. Next thing ya know, I'm hostage to zombies."

"They're called ganados."

"Whatever. All I wanna know is how're you gonna get us out? There's no other way off the island but by boat. Do you know of any boats?"

"I have friends."

"…trustworthy?"

This was a president's daughter, or something like it. "Very."

"Okay…" she rose to her feet slowly, her pale knees shaking. She looked slightly starved.

Leon held his hand out. "Come."

She refused it, and instead gave him an impatient look.

Leon couldn't argue. "Let's go."

"Oh, by the way, did you deal with that Saddler guy?"

Leon turned to her. "What do you know about it?"

"Nothing. Just hoped you took him out."

"Don't even know what he looks like."

"…crap. Well, let's get outta here."

* * *

Leon exited the room first, expecting enemies and aiming his weapon for caution. Nothing. No one was on the rampart, or on the ground floor. Still, caution caution caution.

Leon led Ashley out the room. She walked abruptly, as if time was being wasted.

Geeze.

To the ladder. Leon covered her. Ashley shook her head at him and climbed down. Leon followed after.

"Took ya long enough, hotshot."

"You mind busting my balls when we get off this island?"

"Nah. There's no one here, anyway."

"You don't know that, smarty pants."

"Hell I don't. I've been stuck in this church a little longer than you; I know what it sounds like when people are here."

"I'll…." A voice spoke.

Leon cocked his weapon. Ashley cowered behind him. The voice came from the altar.

There stood a priest. His robes were mainly velvet with green edges. An complex and ornate necklace dangled from his neck and rested firmly on his chest. In his hand was a large staff, at the top was the spidery figure of the village's insignia, which seemed to grow yet remain stone-like and its tendrils encircled the staff to the very bottom. Leon could not see the man's face under the hood.

"I'll take her."

"Who are you?" Leon questioned.

"If you must know," his face was a thick Spanish accent, "my name is Osmund Saddler. I am the master of this… fine… religious… community. A community which you have been disrupting, as of late...yes..."

"What do you want?"

"To demonstrate to the whole world, our astounding power, of course." Two monks came from around the altar to Saddler's side. In their hands were crossbows. Red eyes glinted from the darkness under their hoods.

"No longer will the United States think they can police the world forever. No longer will the rest of the world waits for the New World to command us, against our desire, our ideals!" he never moved from his spot at the altar, save his free hand to gesticulate his fury.

"That is why we kidnapped the President's daughter, so we could give her our power… and then, well… give her back."

Leon looked to her. She looked back, scared by not knowing what Saddler meant. Leon could see it in her eyes. The blood.

"What did you do to her?" he aimed his weapon at Saddler again.

"We just put in her a little gift, see. Oh, but believe me, there will be a welcoming party unlike any other, my friend." he made a deep laugh. "But, oh, oh, before that. I thought I might bargain with her father for some… donations. To our fond society, to improve the quality of this church and her children. Takes quite a lot of money to maintain a church."

"Heh. Faith and money will lead you nowhere."

"Well you had better console your God and what He plans to do with what we gave YOU."

"…When I was unconscious?"

"Yes. Slipped my mind, maybe, but, oh well you know now and that doesn't hurt anyone's knowledge. But I do hope you like our small contributions." He still did not lift his hood. He took his free hand and pointed to the center of his chest. "Here… the eggs hatch…" and then he made circular motions to his shoulders and neck. "They will spread legs and arms… a brain, here," he slid his finger to his neck. "A mind of its own… in place of yours. Yet, its mind is dependant on my commands. When they hatch, you will become my PUPPETS. Involuntarily, you will do as I will. I'll have total control over YOUR minds. Don't you think this is a revolutionary way to propagate one's faith?"

"Sounds like an alien invasion to me!"

CLICK. The two bowmen raised their weapons.

A chuckle from Saddler. "Agárrenlos."

Leon grabbed Ashley's hand and darted for the window. Arrows buzzed past their heads and hit the stone walls.

"Cover your face!" Leon shouted.

KTOOOOOOSH They crashed through the window.

Rough landing. Roll. Stop.

Leon didn't dare stop. Torches, eyes—ganados were entering the graveyard from the village. He grabbed Ashley's hand and they both ran off towards the rioting crowd, carrying sickles, axes, torches, and releasing the reigns of the wolves.


End file.
